Return to New Orleans
by LuckyLadybug
Summary: Post-series, my Pendulum Swings verse. Yugi, Seto, the Big 5, and everyone else return to New Orleans to testify in court about what happened on their last visit. But between a mysterious person threatening Johnson and the house everyone's staying at appearing to be haunted by a restless ghost, things don't seem to be any more peaceful than the last time.
1. Chapter 1

**Yu-Gi-Oh!**

**Return to New Orleans**

**By Lucky_Ladybug**

**Notes: The characters from the show are not mine. The other characters and the story are mine! This is part of my post-series **_**Pendulum Swings**_** verse, which redeems Yami Bakura and the Big Five. This is also a direct sequel to my story **_**Obsession in New Orleans.**_** And I drop a note for newcomers that I embrace the dub's localization to America and set Domino City in Oregon.**

**Chapter One**

"Man, I knew we were gonna have to come back here, but I've been dreading it ever since we left." Joey studied the New Orleans skyline as he and the rest of the group stepped off of Seto's private jet. The day was overcast, but not precipitating.

"At least the weather is relatively pleasant," Gansley grunted.

Lector nodded. "It won't be long now and things will heat up enough that most of you probably won't enjoy it. Hopefully we'll be gone by then."

"Maybe." Joey stretched. "These complicated court trials can go on for months, can't they?!"

"Years, even," Johnson intoned. Glancing to Lector, he quickly added, "But I don't think that will happen with this case."

"Hey, with Lector's dad, who knows," Joey said in disgust.

"Joey!" Téa exclaimed. This was hard enough on Lector without commentary like that!

Lector sighed, rubbing his forehead. It still seemed so unreal, the way his father had treated him—sending for him to be a target of the corrupt _vodun_ priest Dr. Raven's wrath to keep the rest of the family safe. . . . Sometimes he could still scarcely believe it had really happened. But it had, and he had almost died, and now they were here to testify against both his father and Dr. Raven in court. To say he wasn't looking forward to it was an understatement.

"Oh, Johnson, I was just thinking of something," Joey blurted. "What if like, Dr. Raven's attorney or Lector's dad's attorney gets me on the stand and pins me down with questions about what kind of attorney you are? What do I tell 'em? I mean, you were real crooked until just recently. I saw it firsthand, and you also told me about some of the stuff you did. In the past I would've been real happy to rat on you, but now I don't know, especially considering the stakes." He folded his arms.

He wasn't expecting his former enemy to cringe, but Johnson did. "Hopefully that won't be an issue, Joseph."

"But what if it is?!" Crump exclaimed. "I never thought about that!"

Johnson turned away. "I did," he said stiffly. "I'm sure they'll try to discredit all of us, but I'm probably the only one that anything could be proven against. Magical and science-fiction crimes can't be prosecuted. Crimes in court can."

Joey frowned. ". . . So . . . how bad were you, Johnson? Did innocent people go to jail because of you?"

". . . Well," Johnson said slowly, "that case I told you about, with the man who supposedly stole a boat, he was a criminal attacking the company I worked for at the time and I couldn't get anything on him. I got him convicted of stealing a boat because I couldn't nail him on anything bigger. But that doesn't change that I twisted the law many times and also had witnesses lie under oath and I enjoyed all of it." He turned away, stiffly. "With any luck, I won't be called on as a witness."

The groups climbed into the waiting rental vehicles and were soon leaving the airport to head for where they were going to stay while in town. Johnson leaned back, staring out the window while running a hand down his face.

"You've been worrying about this for a while, haven't you," Lector frowned in realization.

"And not saying anything!" Crump accused.

"I'm just sure Dr. Raven will have a lawyer as crooked as I was, and I know how crooked lawyers think," Johnson replied. "And on the other hand, if Lector's father has an honest lawyer, he'll probably think it's his duty to prove my past in court. Last night, while I was packing, I got a phone call from a famous lawyer in Los Angeles."

"Not Perry Mason." Gansley quirked an eyebrow.

Johnson nodded. "I met him once, when he was vacationing in Domino City and took a case for a friend of his. Since he often vacations in Oregon and often runs into people needing help, he has a license to practice law there as well as in California. He suspected I wasn't being fully honest in the courtroom, but he could never prove anything."

"But you said you'd never lost a case," Crump said. "Does that mean . . . ?!"

"Yes, I won the case," Johnson said. "Perry Mason doesn't always win, although yes, he usually does. 'Usually' wasn't good enough for me, so whenever it looked like I wouldn't win, I started pulling out my tricks."

"What kind of case was it?" Lector frowned. "Doesn't he usually handle murder cases?"

"This time it was much more innocuous," Johnson said, "a simple case of breaking and entering. You know, I honestly don't know whether the kid did it or not. Mason believed he was innocent, naturally. I was representing the company he was supposed to have broken into. It was a first offense, so he got probation."

". . . What did Mason say on the phone?" Gansley asked, almost dreading the answer.

"He said he'd heard about the case and hoped that all would go well; of course he found Mr. Leichter's and Dr. Raven's actions abominable," Johnson said. "He also said he hoped the case against them could be won with no trickery. Of course I knew what he was insinuating."

"You don't suppose he'll make any trouble, do you?" Lector said warily.

"I don't think so," Johnson said. "He believes we're in the right here. He wouldn't want to jeopardize your father and Dr. Raven being convicted." He sighed and leaned back. "But I wonder a lot about all the people I've hurt through the years. What if I sent innocent people to prison? I don't actually know that I did, but I never really dug to find out. It looked like they were guilty, or at least that they could be, and I ran with that. It was my job to properly represent the companies that hired me, so I didn't concern myself with much other than what they wanted of me."

Gansley sighed and shook his head. "You can't know about those people. Naturally they'd all claim they were innocent, and in some cases, all you'd have would be their word. All you can really do is move forward into the future with a new outlook."

"Anyway, anyone you sent to prison is probably out now," Nesbitt said. "If anyone went to prison at all. Weren't your cases mostly about settlements?"

"Not always, like the boat case," Johnson said. "And even a little time spent in prison would be Hell." He shuddered. "All of us know what it's like to be trapped and unable to get out. And as horrible as virtual reality was, prison is likely worse."

No one could deny that.

". . . Hey," Crump said, breaking the uncomfortable silence, "is that the place?"

Everyone stared out the window at a large plantation mansion with white pillars in the front. Lector nodded. "That's it."

They pulled into the long driveway, the others' vehicles following close behind. As the cars stopped, the front doors opened and Lector's younger sister Evangeline rushed out of the house. "Démas!"

Lector caught her in a hug when they met. "How are you?" he asked. "Has living at our great-great-grandmother's family home been working out for you?"

Evangeline nodded. "You have no idea how amazing it feels to be out from under our father's thumb. And Angelique has really been enjoying it here too. She's at the restaurant right now, but she'll be back later."

"Are you serious?!" Joey exclaimed as he exited the van he had been in with many of the others. "You two really live in a place like this?!"

"Well . . ." Evangeline gave him a teasing look. "I'll admit it's pretty big for just the two of us, but it's going to be pretty filled up for a while now."

"There's really enough room for all of us?" Téa said in awe.

"Most of you will have to double up, but there's enough room," Evangeline assured her.

They all started up the walkway and onto the large porch.

Joey swallowed hard. "This place isn't . . . haunted, is it?" He shivered as they stepped inside.

Evangeline hesitated again, far too long to suit him.

"It _is_ haunted!" Joey deduced.

". . . That's not unusual for New Orleans," Evangeline said slowly.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. Everybody acts like the ghosts are just a normal part of living here," Joey said. "Well, they're not for me!"

"We're not positive it's haunted," Evangeline said. "But we _have_ been hearing strange noises at night that sounds like someone's looking for something. We always get up and look around, but we can't find anything. And one night Angelique swore she saw a figure in white walking down the hall and around a corner, but she's not positive she wasn't dreaming and I'm not positive it wasn't just me."

Joey wailed. "We're in a haunted house!"

"Calm down, Joey," Serenity soothed. "It sounds like if there are any ghosts, they don't mean any harm. Maybe it's just Mr. Lector's and Evangeline's great-great-grandmother or another relative."

"What worries me is, if it is, it seems like they're trying to find something," Evangeline said. "Maybe it's important." She sighed and shut the door once everyone was in the entryway.

"Maybe Yami could try to talk to them and find out?" Bakura suggested.

Yami Bakura scowled. "We'll see." He set Oreo down and she started walking through the entryway out of utter curiosity. "Or the cat will find them."

"I hope it's really alright that we brought Oreo," Bakura said. "Father is traveling again. . . ."

"It's fine," Evangeline smiled. "She seemed to be very well-behaved last time."

"She is," Bakura agreed.

Mai looked to Evangeline. "So, how were you able to get a place like this?" she asked. "It's incredible."

Evangeline smiled. "It's stayed in the family, but it's been vacant for a long time. When I wanted to move out of our parents' home, I thought it would be the perfect place. I remember coming here as a little girl when our great-grandmother was still alive, and how much I loved it. After she died, no one else ever moved in."

". . . She didn't die in the house, did she?" Joey gulped.

"Joey!" Téa exclaimed in exasperation.

"Several generations of people lived and died in this house, Mr. Wheeler," Lector pointed out.

Joey stared at him in utter horror. _"What?!"_

"Ugh. This house _is_ from the 19th Century," Téa said with an exasperated facepalm.

"I'll take all of you on a tour later," Evangeline said. "Right now, why don't you all go upstairs and get settled in your rooms? You can choose whatever rooms you want . . . aside from my room and Angelique's room, of course," she added with a chuckle and a wink. "And you can pair up however you want."

Seto nodded in approval. "Mokuba and I'll stay together," he said, to no one's surprise.

Everyone headed up the old staircase and to the second floor, which sprawled out in both directions.

"Did you ever come here?" Crump wondered, looking to Lector.

"I remember coming here as a child, yes," Lector said. He looked up and down the halls. "Nothing seems to have changed much. Evangeline said she wanted to keep it just as it was."

"You know, I've been wondering," Crump said. "You said Mokuba was the only kid you've ever really liked, but what about Marie and Evangeline? Weren't you around when they were kids?" He pushed open the nearest door and headed inside.

Lector followed him. "To be honest, Marie was a handful," he said. "I found it extremely overwhelming trying to take care of her. Evangeline was much sweeter, but when she was a child, I wasn't around so much."

"And yet she's so nuts about you?" Crump blinked.

"Sometimes I wonder if that's why," Lector said with a shake of his head. "She just never knew me enough to be familiar with my bad side."

"I don't think so," Crump insisted. "She knew all the crummy stuff you did and she loves you anyway. She still sees the good in you too, just like all of us do."

Lector smiled a bit. "I suppose."

"To tell you the truth . . ." Crump looked around nervously, then lowered his voice. "I'm kind of worried about Johnson. Do you think he's gonna be okay?"

"I think so," Lector said. "What worries me is if he and Mr. Wheeler are right about the opposing lawyers planning to bring up his past. It's possible, you know."

"Yeah, I guess so," Crump frowned. "I never thought about it, but they'd probably do it if they thought it'd give them an edge."

"I suppose we have to be grateful that no one can prove any of our shenanigans in virtual reality," Lector frowned. "Although it's possible our collusion with Pegasus could be brought up."

Crump made a face. "Pegasus really boxed us into a corner, making the company's reputation go down by spreading the story about Yugi beating Kaiba and then coming to us to say that we had to turn all our holdings over to him, that it was the only way to save the company."

"And maybe it was, but we should have balked as soon as he announced he was taking Mokuba." Lector sank onto one of the beds, holding a hand to his forehead. "I didn't feel right about it, of course, but I was angry enough at Mr. Kaiba and confident enough that Pegasus wouldn't hurt Mokuba that I let it go."

"That's not how I remember it," Crump said. "I remember you got mad and jumped up, demanding to know what Pegasus thought he was doing. And sure, even if you didn't keep trying to actually stop it, you stayed upset and you still had a lot of misgivings about it."

"That doesn't matter. I shouldn't have let it happen." Lector shook his head. "It was bad enough when we found out Mokuba was a prisoner in the dungeon, but do you know what he told me later?" A haunted look came into his eyes. "He said Pegasus actually stole his soul out of his body."

Crump stared at him. "What?!"

"I loved that boy, and look what I allowed to happen him," Lector said in distress. "I know I should focus on the fact that he's alright now, but coming back here to New Orleans. . . it's making me start to wonder . . . was my father right to disown me? Even to trick me into being a target for Dr. Raven?"

"No!" Crump got in front of Lector and grabbed his shoulders. "For crying out loud, _no!_ No parent's got the right to do something like that to their kid! And if you're gonna say it's just desserts, it's not." His expression softened. "You've changed, Buddy. You were always a good guy. You just lost your way for a bit, and you're back on the right path now. Your dad didn't even care. It didn't matter to him that you'd changed; he only cared what you were, and the way it sounded before, it sounded like he only cared then because it made him look bad! Your dad's a creep."

Lector bowed his head. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry you had to come back here," Crump said. "It probably tears open the pain all over again, just when you were trying to heal." His grip tightened. "But I promise you, we're all gonna be here for you. And when it's over, hopefully we'll never have to come here again unless we're just visiting Evangeline."

"I hope so," Lector said.

xxxx

Joey was sharing a room with Tristan. He was highly tense as they unpacked, jumping at every sound and constantly looking over his shoulder.

"Come on, man!" Tristan sighed in exasperation. "Settle down! We don't even know there's a ghost, and it's probably nothing to be scared of even if there is! I mean, that ghost really helped us when we were stuck in the cemetery last time!"

"Yeah, well, this one looks for stuff in the middle of the night and walks down the hall!" Joey shot back. "What if I get up in the middle of the night and see it?!"

"Then just come back to bed," Tristan said with a roll of his eyes.

"It's bad enough having to come back here and see those creeps again, but now we've gotta worry about ghosts too?!" Joey rambled.

"I'm not worried," Tristan retorted.

"You were pretty scared in that cemetery," Joey remembered.

"Yeah, but not of the ghost we actually met!" Tristan shot back.

"Hey, what if the ghost was conjured by Dr. Raven to come after us and threaten us?!" Joey exclaimed. "Maybe it's gonna try to stop us from testifying!"

"It's not going to stop me from testifying," Tristan said. "Now come on. Let's go on the tour with everyone else. I wanna see what this place is like!"

Joey looked less than enthusiastic, but he wanted to be alone in the room even less. He quickly followed Tristan out.

xxxx

By and large, the group seemed impressed with the stately mansion. As they reconvened in the hall after settling into their rooms, Evangeline walked up to them. "What do you think?" she asked.

"It's amazing!" Téa exclaimed. "I love this place!"

"You must be so happy to be able to live here," Serenity said.

"Well . . ." Evangeline hesitated. "I miss being able to be with my family, but since that's just not possible anymore, yes, I do love being able to be here. And Angelique has been a great friend."

"That's great," Mai said sincerely. "I used to mock and scoff at friendship, but I found out just how important it really is."

"I think we all found that out," Téa said. _Even Kaiba. . . ._

Seto didn't comment.

"Hey, wait a minute," Crump frowned. "Where's Johnson?"

Everyone looked around, bewildered.

"He went into a room with Nesbitt," Gansley remembered.

"His phone rang," Nesbitt said. "He said he'd come out in a minute."

"Well, he's not coming out." Crump went to the room Nesbitt indicated and looked in. "Johnson? You coming?"

He stopped short at the sight of Johnson sitting on the bed, completely pale. The phone was still in one hand, held at his side.

"Johnson?!" Crump exclaimed. "What the heck happened?! Who called you?!"

Johnson looked up slowly, his eyes filled with fear. "I don't know who it was. He said he knew what I'd done . . . and that everyone was going to suffer because of it."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It wasn't long before most of the rest of the group learned about the disturbing phone call to Johnson. And, Seto discovered in annoyance when he tried to find out more, they were pretty much at a dead-end; the call had come from a payphone.

"Do you think it was some creep hired by Dr. Raven's lawyer?!" Crump exclaimed in indignation.

"I think it's a possibility that can't be ignored," Seto said. "In any case, it probably has some relation to this trial. It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise."

"But there's nothing we can do about it," Crump said in disgust.

"Not at this point, beyond driving out to the payphone and asking if anyone paid attention to who used it," Seto grunted.

"Hey, maybe someone would," Crump hoped. "I mean, payphones aren't in big demand anymore."

"New Orleans is probably a lot like New York," Joey said. "All kinds of weird or downright crazy stuff happens and people don't pay any attention to it!"

"I'm afraid that's not far off," Evangeline said. "I don't think you'll learn anything at the payphone. Anyway . . ." She looked at the address Seto had written out. "That's clear across town. By the time you'd get there, I doubt you'd find anyone who was there when the call was made."

"Nuts," Crump grumbled.

". . . Let's think about something else," Johnson said, trying to gather his composure. "Why don't we have the tour of the estate?"

"Are you sure you're up to it?" Nesbitt frowned.

"I'd like to get my mind on something else," Johnson said.

"Alright then," Evangeline said slowly, still not convinced it was the best idea. "Let's try it."

The mansion was fascinating, with three complete levels in addition to a basement and an attic. The rooms were all lushly furnished and decorated with both the old and the new. Reupholstered couches and chairs from the 19th Century were placed alongside desks with the most modern of computers and televisions.

"It's like stepping into the past while not leaving the present," Téa said in awe. "This place is so special. You must be so proud to have an important part of your heritage preserved like this!"

"I was so glad everything was still in such good condition when I came here to look around," Evangeline said. "It needed a little dusting and airing out, but that was all."

"I'll bet Snakes would love this place too," Serenity whispered to Duke.

"He might," Duke whispered back. "Who knows, maybe he was even right here in this house back in the day. After all, Lector's great-great-grandfather was his business partner in New Orleans."

"Did you tell him we were coming back here?" Serenity asked, her eyes wide.

"I did, but he didn't think he could get off work in L.A. to come along or meet us here," Duke said. "Although maybe that was just an excuse. It would probably be weird coming back to a place that used to be home but isn't anymore."

"Especially when everyone you knew back then is dead now," Serenity said softly.

"Exactly." Duke twirled a piece of hair around his finger. "Snakes told me once that he feels like he belongs to two eras at the same time. He still loves certain things about the past, like men's fancy clothing, but he likes the technologies and conveniences of the present."

"Do you think we should tell Mr. Lector about him sometime?" Serenity wondered.

"I don't know." Duke frowned. "I've wondered about that myself. It might be something that both Lector and Evangeline would want to know and benefit from knowing. Snakes could tell them so much about their family in the 19th Century, and that might be a comfort after how badly their family in the present screwed up. But maybe Snakes wouldn't want to talk so much about that time in his life. I guess I should talk to Snakes before we'd say anything to Lector."

"Yeah, you're right," Serenity agreed. "That's only fair."

They snapped back to attention as Evangeline explained that there were even secret passageways at various locations throughout the house.

"I know Démas and I each loved to explore and try to find them all," Evangeline said. "I'm still not sure either of us ever did!"

"Was the basement original?" Seto wondered. "I didn't think it was usual for houses this old to have them."

"There was a food cellar and a wine cellar," Evangeline said. "Those were later expanded into a full basement."

The grounds were also beautiful. French doors in the downstairs study opened to an incredible sight. Oaks and willows covered the extensive yard, as well as hedges that went around the full perimeter of the property and also diverged to snake around small sections. Flowers in bloom decorated many areas, and as they walked deeper into the backyard, the sound of running water could be heard.

"This is so gorgeous," Serenity said. "It's more like a park than a yard!"

"The yard was probably my favorite part," Evangeline smiled. "I used to pretend it was the Secret Garden and I'd have it all to myself . . . until I found a special friend to share it with." Her expression clouded. "However . . . there was a part of the yard I tried to avoid. . . ."

"Why's that?!" Joey demanded.

"My great-grandmother told me there was something wrong with the little pool that's just beyond the fountain," Evangeline said.

Lector grunted. From his expression, he had heard the same story and had never believed it, but he would let his sister tell it.

They were arrived at the fountain now, a mysterious white marble cast of a young girl pouring water from a jug. Her eyes were pupilless, as many statues were, making her expression seem eerie and dead. The trees above waved, and the scent of water grew stronger. Up ahead, the surface of the pool lightly moved.

"My great-grandmother said there was some kind of creature in the pool, a siren," Evangeline explained. "She said it preyed on anyone who got too close, and it would always hit them where they were most vulnerable. The pool is a lot deeper than it looks on the surface. I guess if the stories are true, there must be bodies in there. . . ."

Joey recoiled in horror. "What?!"

"Sirens are those things that trick sailors and other people into coming to them in the water," Crump said. "They all get hypnotized by the siren's song and beauty and forget about everybody they care about and just plunge right in and drown."

"That's freaky," Mokuba shuddered.

"That's nonsense," Seto said flatly. "Anyone who gets taken in by something like that and lets themselves forget about everything that really matters is pathetic and weak."

"This siren sounds different from the sirens of legend," Ishizu remarked. "Instead of only appealing to men with the promise of base desire, they target each person individually with their personal weakness."

"Exactly," Evangeline said. "Well, I was usually too scared to go beyond this point." She stopped walking at the fountain and gripped it with her hands. "But one day I decided I really wanted to know what was in the pool. I went closer and closer, right up to the edge, and looked in. I didn't see anything."

"Sirens traditionally only get men," Crump said.

"My great-grandmother didn't say this one followed the rules," Evangeline said. "I saw the water start rippling and I started to hear whispering. I got out of there as fast as I could."

"You were probably just making things up in your mind," Seto said.

"Maybe," Evangeline said. "But I never went back there any more! Angelique and I both loved this fountain, though, so when we moved in we got it going again. We just don't go past this point."

"I'm sure not going to either!" Joey exclaimed.

"Heh," Seto smirked.

"What about a family cemetery?" Yami Bakura wondered. "I know a lot of old houses have those."

Joey looked ready to cry at that thought.

"Well . . ." Evangeline hesitated. "There is one connected to the property. It's not very big. But it's nice because unlike with the cemeteries in town, people can just stay in their tombs and not have to be removed after a year and a day."

"That's really sad," Serenity said.

Evangeline nodded. "It has to be that way in the city because of lack of space. All the old bones are gathered at the backs of the tombs and new bodies are brought in."

Téa looked a little grossed-out herself at that. "That's awful."

"I bet the ghosts aren't happy about it either!" Joey exclaimed. "They probably haunt all the cemeteries in town because of it!"

"I'm sure they knew before they died how it was gonna be," Tristan pointed out.

"We always preferred using our private cemeteries," Evangeline said. "I'll show you the cemetery here. . . . It's over this way." She started walking towards the hedge.

Everyone followed.

Crump looked awkwardly to Lector. "I guess before all the trouble with your family, you would've been put in one of these family cemeteries if anything happened to you. . . ."

Lector nodded. "I even saw the tomb. It was in this cemetery." He looked to Crump. "But I would rather be in Domino City now."

Crump relaxed. "That's good to know. Of course, we'd better not need that information for a long time!"

Lector certainly hoped not.

They reached the hedge and Evangeline took a large, antique keyring out of her dress pocket. Parting the hedge at just the right place, she inserted one of the keys into a lock and pushed a door covered with hedge inward.

"That's handy," Tristan said.

"Yeah. You can't even tell that's a door," Duke added.

"This really is like the Secret Garden," Evangeline said. "But Great-Grandmother wouldn't let me play in here."

"Why would you _want_ to?" Mokuba looked around at the tombs, tensing with the knowledge of what they were. They all looked so old and likely full of history, but he wasn't crazy about this kind of history. He might not actually be as scared of ghosts as Joey, but he still wasn't thrilled about the supernatural. He was even less excited after all the close calls many of them had had with death.

"I was never really scared of this place," Evangeline said. "Everyone here is family. Back then, I thought I could trust family." She wavered and looked away.

"We both did," Lector said quietly.

They wandered through the small cemetery, looking at the tombs from the outside. Evangeline made no motion to unlock any of them, for which many of the group were grateful. But near one of the tombs she paused and bent down. "That's funny."

"What?!" Joey demanded.

"This little statue was knocked over." She held up a small statue of a woman with her head bowed in mourning.

"It looks like it could fall over easy," Joey said.

"It never has. It's always been fixed right here, on this ledge by the door." Evangeline set it back. "In fact, it's always been screwed down. Somebody had to have loosened it!"

"Is there any other way to get in here?" Atem asked.

"Supposedly there's a secret passageway from the basement that leads here, into one of the tombs," Evangeline said, "but I never found it."

"Nor did I," Lector said.

"So why would anybody unscrew a statue on a tomb?" Duke frowned.

"I don't know," Evangeline said. "But it didn't happen while the property was vacant; Angelique and I checked everything when we moved in, including that!"

"Were you out here any other times recently?" Yugi asked.

"Yes," Evangeline said slowly. "I came out two nights ago and it was still in place then."

David cringed. "Okay. That's . . . really spooky."

"Maybe Angelique did it?" Mai suggested.

"She'd have no reason to." Evangeline frowned. "I'm going to go to the tool shed and get a screwdriver to fix this right now." She started towards the gate.

"Where's the tool shed?" Duke asked. "I don't remember passing it."

"It's up closer to the house," Evangeline said. "We would have passed it on the way back. I'll just be a couple of minutes." She hurried out.

"I'll go with her," Lector said. "I suppose it's nothing to worry about, but I don't like it. If Angelique didn't do it, then someone else was on the property in the last forty-eight hours and did it. And there's the phone call Johnson got."

"You think making a statue fall down is part of their threats?" Crump blinked.

"I don't know," Lector said. "Right now, we don't know much of anything!" He chased after his sister.

"Why don't we all leave?" Joey exclaimed. "There's no reason to stay in here!"

"Maybe there's some more clues around," Duke shot back. He walked around the immediate area, but only turned up the missing screws in the grass.

"If we're thinking someone did this who was up to no good, the statue probably should have been dusted for fingerprints," Seto grunted. "Of course by now it's covered in Evangeline's."

"And maybe she wouldn't want to get the police out here because someone unscrewed a statue," Marik said, folding his arms. "They might not even take that seriously."

"Combined with the threatening phone call, they might," Seto said.

Johnson backed up, fumbling to straighten his tie. He hadn't even thought about calling the police in on the phone call. They would of course want to know what the caller said, and what they meant, and then there would be an investigation and he would go to prison. . . .

On the other hand, could he even really say he was doing all he could to turn his life around if he didn't confess to all that he had done? Even if he hadn't sent innocent people to prison, he had pulled so many illegal stunts in court. He had justified it with so many different excuses—that he couldn't win if he didn't do it and he needed to win, that the people he was lying about were crooked anyway and it was the only way to get something on them, that if all the dishonest lawyers were stopped and put away, there would be very few lawyers left. . . .

Gansley looked to him in concern. "Johnson, are you alright?"

"Do we have to call the police?" he said weakly.

Seto frowned. "I guess it's up to you and to Evangeline," he said.

"Oh, I don't want to call the police for this," Evangeline said as she and Lector returned with the screwdriver. She hesitated. "And I guess calling the police would be awkward for you, wouldn't it, Mr. Johnson? Father told us what he found out about you and the others."

"I'm sure he did," Johnson sighed. "I'm not like that anymore, but I'm hoping I won't get called as a witness in court. . . . And I don't want to explain my past to the police. . . ."

Evangeline quickly screwed the statue back down. "Then I hope you won't get called either," she said. "I feel like anyone who's truly changed should be able to just get on with their life. Anyway, you could do more good out of prison than in it."

"I suppose," Johnson said as he uncomfortably cleared his throat.

xxxx

Nothing else strange happened that evening. Everyone returned to the mansion, and when Angelique arrived with dinner for them all from her restaurant's kitchen, they shared a hearty meal. It was a good way to forget their problems for a while and just enjoy their trip. Once it came time to go to court the next day, it would likely be far less enjoyable.

"I hope they won't ask Yami any awkward questions," Bakura worried. "I didn't stop to think about it, but if we're asked about his age or something like that, we'll have to say he's 21 like his I.D. says."

"Why would anyone ask about my age unless they have reason to doubt it?" Yami Bakura grunted. "And how could they doubt it unless they know the truth?"

"I suppose that's true," Bakura said slowly. "Oh, and Yami, you'll have to stay in your Egyptian form since that's what's on your I.D. and your license. And that means you'll have to keep your shirt closed in court."

"I know, I know," Yami Bakura said in annoyance. ". . . Cat!" he exclaimed as Oreo stole a meatball off his plate.

Angelique was amused. "There's plenty for everyone," she assured him.

Crump looked to Lector. "You're one of the main ones who'll have to testify, Buddy," he worried. "Are you okay with that?"

"Not particularly, but since it has to be done, there isn't much I can do about it," Lector retorted.

"Mokuba will no doubt be called on to testify too," Seto frowned. He didn't like that, and he knew Mokuba didn't like it, but the boy would do what he had to do.

"And Joey and Tristan will have to talk about how Dr. Raven put them in the cemetery in open coffins," Bakura said.

"Wait, are both trials tomorrow?" Téa cringed. Just one was overwhelming enough.

"I guess that depends on whether Dr. Raven's lawyer asks for a continuance," Johnson said.

"He's been stalling all along the way," Seto said in disgust. "A continuance would be just the kind of move he'd try next."

"At least the state can point out the incredible expense of getting us all out here," Johnson said. "Unless the judge is being paid off, he should really deny a continuance on those grounds."

". . . So what's a continuance?" Joey finally asked.

Mokuba sighed. "Postponing the trial, usually for some dumb reason."

Joey went red, mortified that a ten-year-old kid knew that when he didn't. "Oh."

"There _are _legitimate reasons for continuances," Johnson interjected, "but it's true that it's an infamous trick of shady lawyers."

"I guess you used it a lot then," Seto grunted.

"Sometimes," Johnson said, "although generally I preferred going to court."

"Well, that makes sense," Joey snorted. "You _were_ a prima donna."

"Joey," Serenity chided.

Gansley actually looked a bit amused. "He always did enjoy performing in court." Sobering, he added, "Something I hope is still true. You won cases for me without having to resort to your tricks. You're a genuinely good lawyer, Johnson."

Johnson ducked his head, a little embarrassed but touched as well. "I'll be the legal advisor on our project, if we ever get it going. And if I'm not in prison. I hope I'll still enjoy it."

Lector looked sadly at his friend. Johnson had a great deal to worry about on this case, more than Lector had even initially realized. It was a complicated matter, and while Lector knew that Johnson did need to make up for the wrongs he had done, they had all committed sins. Lector hoped with all his heart that Johnson would not have to go to prison, both for Johnson's own sake and because Lector didn't want to be without him and knew the others felt likewise. But he was worried about more than that. What with the strange phone call, he feared that someone might try to kill Johnson. Or maybe they planned to try to kill everyone around him while leaving Johnson alive to suffer through it. There were so many horrible possibilities.

Just what were they getting into by coming back here?

xxxx

Even though everyone had to get up early for court, it was difficult to go to sleep, both because of everything that had been happening and because their bodies were still on Pacific Time. After endless tossing and turning, Joey finally got up in aggravation. Tristan had actually dozed, he noted in some envy and irritation, but there was little hope of that for him, at least for a while.

Muttering to himself, Joey shuffled to the door and opened it. Maybe he'd go see if anyone else was awake and out of their rooms. Or maybe he'd just walk around a while. He could always find a quiet corner and play _Disney Heroes_ on his phone or something.

He knew it was a mistake to come out as soon as he stepped into the hall and heard a rustling noise. Still, he really didn't want to believe it was the talked-of ghost. "Yugi?" he called quaveringly. "No, wait, Yami Bakura? That's you, isn't it? You're just trying to freak me out."

Well, he certainly wasn't about to get scared off by a trick Yami Bakura was playing on him. He took a few steps towards the sound. It seemed to be coming from the end of the hall. There was an old trunk under a window there, filled with assorted pictures and knick-knacks from bygone eras. And as he drew closer to the trunk, a translucent figure began to materialize, bending over the open lid and going through the contents.

"This is just a trick," Joey told himself. "Just a trick. . . . I mean, it has to be. . . ."

The figure straightened and looked to him. A woman with long, dark hair and wearing a white dress, just like Evangeline had described. . . .

Of course, Joey did the only logical thing under the circumstances.

"Ghost!" he screamed, and fled back the other direction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Every bedroom door up and down the hall burst open as Joey yelled.

"What on Earth is all the commotion?" Gansley grumped.

Joey shakily pointed back the way he had come. "There's a ghost over there going through a trunk!" he wailed.

"Ugh! You got us all up for that?!" Mai exclaimed, holding her purple robe around herself.

Evangeline came out of her room and hurried down the hall. "I don't see anything now," she frowned. "But the trunk's open. . . ." She knelt down, looking through the contents. "What would a ghost want with any of these things?"

Lector walked over to her and knelt as well. "I suppose that would depend on who it was," he said.

"It looked like Evangeline said!" Joey exclaimed, wildly gesturing. "A white dress and long, dark hair!"

Annoyed at being woke up, Tristan sleepily rubbed his eyes as he stood in the doorway. "Are you sure you didn't fall asleep and dream it, Joey? The stories Evangeline told could have easily set your imagination off."

"I was awake, Tristan!" Joey snapped.

Angelique emerged from her room too. "What's in that trunk?" she asked. "We didn't have time to go through it before. . . ."

"Mostly it's a lot of old mementos from our great-great-grandparents' day," Evangeline said. She lifted an old photograph in a fancy oval frame. "Here they are with Samuel 'Snakes' Tolliver, Great-Great-Grandfather's business partner."

Serenity and Duke immediately crowded in to see, as did David.

Joey stared over their shoulders. "But that's the guy Duke's pals with out in Los Angeles!" he blurted.

Duke facepalmed. "Oh no. . . ."

Lector whipped around to stare at Joey. "What?!"

Not aware that he had said anything wrong, Joey pushed between Duke and David for a better look. "It really is! It looks like he's even wearing that purple suit he was wearing when he came to Domino City!" He pointed at the picture.

"It's black-and-white, so who can tell," Duke said flatly.

"Well, don't tell me you don't see the resemblance!" Joey exclaimed.

". . . For that matter, look how much Lector's great-great-grandfather looks like him," Duke said, trying to change the topic.

"Are you saying the Snakes you know is a descendant of this guy or something?" Joey asked.

"I'm not saying anything," Duke said. "I'm just making a point."

Lector quirked an eyebrow. "While this is all very interesting, I would think there are more pressing matters to deal with right now."

"In any case, I think I'll put this picture up somewhere," Evangeline said. She handed it up to Angelique. "And maybe there's some other things in here we should have around the house."

Angelique held the picture out to Joey. "This isn't the woman you saw, is it?" she asked.

"No," Joey frowned. "At least . . . I don't think so. . . ." He squinted at the picture. "Wait a minute. The Snakes in this picture has that freaky scar on his left cheek. You're not gonna tell me his descendant has the exact same scar?!"

Caught, Duke scowled in frustration. "Okay, so it's the same guy. So what?"

"So why didn't anybody tell us?!" Joey exclaimed.

Serenity looked away. "Well . . . we didn't think it was our place. . . . I mean, he wanted as few people to know as possible. . . ."

Lector went sheet-white. "Are you saying our great-great-grandfather's business partner is alive?!"

"And living in Los Angeles," David said.

Evangeline was staring now too. "But how is that possible? He was killed young by some criminal kingpin he fell in with when he tried to betray her!"

Yami Bakura looked singularly bored. "Is it any stranger than people from three thousand years ago being alive?" he retorted, his voice dripping sarcasm.

". . . When you put it that way, no," Evangeline conceded.

"Snakes was brought back from the dead by a mad scientist in his time," Serenity said softly, "but her experiments tore a hole in the space-time continuum. Snakes and some other people ended up in the present-day, and while some of them decided to go back, or just to visit here sometimes, Snakes wanted to live here."

Lector shook his head. "Maybe it's just because I'm tired, or worried about the trials in the morning, but this actually doesn't sound so outlandish right now." He held a hand to his forehead. "I think I'd better go back to bed."

Evangeline straightened and closed the trunk, holding several more items. "I think we all should. Although I've just found Great-Great-Grandmother's diary, so it's going to be hard to resist reading it for a while."

"Are you serious?! What if the ghost comes back and wants it?!" Joey exclaimed.

Evangeline shrugged. "Then I'll try to talk to her and find out what she wants."

"Definitely a more logical reaction than running down the hall screaming 'Ghost,'" Tristan grunted.

Joey scowled.

"Tristan's right," Seto said in irritation. "Although right now, I honestly couldn't care less about ghosts or sirens or time-traveling gamblers. I'm going back to bed. Come on, Mokuba."

Mokuba quickly followed him.

Everyone dispersed soon after, trickling back to their rooms. Rishid soon noticed that Marik seemed sobered. "Is anything wrong, Brother?" he asked.

Marik sighed and shut their door before leaning on it and folding his arms. "I guess it was hearing Johnson worrying about making amends for his crimes and wondering if he would have to go to prison. It's true that I committed a lot of magical crimes that can't be prosecuted, but I also committed crimes that the law would recognize. Sometimes I've wondered if I should be in prison myself." He looked at Rishid in anguish. "I created an international criminal organization, Rishid! And it's still in existence, even though now it's under different leadership."

"I helped you create it," Rishid sighed, his heart heavy. "I helped you do so many of the terrible things you did while seeking the Pharaoh. If anyone should be in prison, it should be me."

"No!" Marik pushed away from the door. "Rishid, you were the seal against that evil being coming out! You had to stay with me, no matter what it took. In my dangerous mental state, you knew that any provocation or disagreement with me could tip the scales and open the way for a far greater disaster." His voice lowered. "You did the only things you could."

"I try to see it that way, but it's difficult." Rishid looked firmly into Marik's eyes. "But in any case, Ishizu's connections with the government kept us both out of prison. She didn't want that to happen to us. You had been saved from the darkness and were ready to turn your life around, as I had longed so much to hear for those five long years. What purpose would there have been, or would there still be, in you being behind bars now? You have done so much good being free—trying to help many of the Rare Hunters and get them on righteous paths, looking after Mokuba and giving him a close friend to be with, assisting Yugi and the entire group on these adventures. . . ."

"I suppose that's true," Marik said. "But still . . ."

"As far as I'm concerned, you have already been in the worst possible prison by drowning in your hate and even being abused by the creature you created," Rishid said.

Marik couldn't deny that. It was hard to picture anything else being worse.

"So try not to worry about it, my brother," Rishid finished. "This is the way it should be for you, and I pray Mr. Johnson will find peace and the right answer for him as well."

Marik finally nodded. "I hope so." He sighed. "And I hope for him, that won't mean prison. That would hurt his friends so much. There must be another way."

"Perhaps the same as for you and I," Rishid said. "Seto Kaiba has connections to the government. Maybe he would be willing to try to arrange for Johnson to stay out of prison and try to correct his wrongdoings from the outside."

"Maybe." Marik sighed. "Well, we'd better get to bed. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." He crossed to the bed he had chosen. "I just hope Joey won't wake us up with more ghost encounters."

xxxx

To everyone's relief, there were no more strange events during the night and they were all able to sleep well. That was especially gratifying when the next day in court was very trying and very long, as they had all feared. Dr. Raven's lawyer did indeed try for a continuance, which the judge rejected, but the trial against him went on so long that the trial against Lector's father didn't even get started. By the time court let out at the end of the workday, everyone was exhausted.

"At least it looks like there's no way Raven's gonna weasel out of this," Joey sighed as they walked out of the courthouse. "The judge figured the trial would only last another day."

"And there's still time that I could end up getting called," Johnson worried.

"There's not much you could even tell about Raven that the rest of us couldn't tell," Seto grunted. "I doubt you'll be called."

"I could be asked about when I found you and Crump in the freezer after Dr. Raven ordered it," Johnson pointed out.

"And the trial against Lector's dad could be another story," Mokuba said. "He really might get called to talk about what happened to Lector. . . ."

Lector looked away. Some of his family had turned out for Raven's trial because the state had needed to call them as witnesses. He had tried to greet them, but his mother and his sister Marie had both been standoffish and uncomfortable, only managing cool "Hello, Démas" replies. He hadn't let himself show his hurt in court, where it was most inappropriate and where he did not want to appear vulnerable anyway, but now that they were outside, the sorrow in his eyes was obvious.

Crump drew an arm around Lector's shoulders. "Your family other than Evangeline and Gabriel are all creeps," he said bitterly.

"They all hate me," Lector said to him in anguish, trying to keep his voice low. "I was the one my father hurt, and even though they think he was horrible to do what he did, they still treat me like dirt. Maybe they blame me for my father falling so far off the right path, even though he was responsible for his own actions and he chose to do what he did."

"Maybe they just don't know how to talk to you after what he did and how they acted," Serenity suggested.

"I've thought of that," Lector agreed, "but it doesn't help. They would know very well that treating me like this would only hurt me worse."

Evangeline hugged him. "I won't forgive any of them for treating you like this," she insisted. "They're all cruel and unfeeling!"

Lector managed a smile and hugged her back. "And I didn't see Adele. I suppose she's angry at me because young Gabriel will have to testify about hearing our father discussing stealing the crates and . . . setting me up as a target to save the rest of the family. . . ."

"She'd better be angry at our father for doing those horrible things for Gabriel to overhear," Evangeline spat.

"I think we should try to get our minds on something more enjoyable," Mai spoke up. "We could all use some cheering up."

"Yeah!" Crump pounced. "And Mardi Gras is over, so we could even do something like venture into the French Quarter now. It'd be safe for the kids and maybe we could just take in the history of this place."

Lector wasn't sure soaking in New Orleans culture would help him feel any better. It might only bring the pain to the forefront of his mind all the more, thinking on how different things were now than they had once been. Still, he really didn't want to have an aversion to his birthplace forever more, so maybe the thought of making new memories there with his real family and friends was a good idea.

"Let's try it," he said. "But even with Mardi Gras over, we should stay off of Bourbon Street. There are places there that are inappropriate for the kids at any time of year."

As it turned out, they had a great time. They dined at a famous and very old restaurant in the French Quarter and later wandered up and down the old streets, admiring the architecture and the old trees.

"Hey, what's this old place?" Joey wondered after they had been walking on Royal Street for a while. He wandered over to an old and large corner building that didn't look occupied.

"I don't have a good feeling about that building," Ishizu said in concern.

"It doesn't look like it so much from the outside, but it's a house," Evangeline said.

"Is it haunted?" Tristan frowned.

"There are certainly countless reports of it," Lector said. "I'm afraid it's the most haunted location in the city, or so they say. It's actually commonly called 'The Haunted House.'"

"_WHAT?!"_ Joey immediately jumped back.

Evangeline nodded. "The common story is that the woman who lived there, Madame LaLaurie, tortured slaves in that house and buried them in it," she said, anger coming into her voice. "Some of it may be exaggerated, as a lot of the stories only started coming around decades after her death, but I don't doubt that some of it is true.

"Through the years, people have reported so many incidents of paranormal activity there. Other horrible things have happened there too, like a murder in 1894. No one is able to live in the house for long because of all the disturbances, and these days it's a popular tourist attraction."

"People tour that?" Tristan frowned. "That's sick!"

"You know how people who are not Joey are strangely attracted to the macabre, myself included," Yami Bakura said.

"No one can actually go inside on the tours, since people still try to live there, but oh boy, if the crowds don't gather outside!" Evangeline shook her head. "It's just as well people can't go in; the house is supposed to be cursed. I don't know why anyone would even want to try living there."

"Not to mention, some of the paranormal activity happens outside the house," Angelique said. "Tour guides have felt their bags being tugged on by invisible hands and lamps go on and off when certain names are said."

". . . Let's get out of here!" Joey screamed, tearing down the sidewalk.

"For once, I really can't blame him," Téa exclaimed.

Everyone quickly went past the old house with its many mysteries. As they started back towards where they had left the vans, the topics turned to something new.

"I read some of Great-Great-Grandmother's diary last night," Evangeline suddenly announced. "Actually, I must admit that some of it wasn't all that compelling. Whenever the entries were cold and matter-of-fact about one or two things that happened that day, I kind of lost interest. But usually she'd talk on about her feelings and interesting things instead."

"What kind of feelings?" Joey frowned. "Like mushy stuff or something?"

"Oh, sometimes," Evangeline smiled. "Or what she thought of her husband's business or his partner. . . ."

"There's stuff about Snakes in there?" Duke broke in.

"Quite a bit, actually," Evangeline said. "She was amazed that he was so young but was running his own empire." She sighed. "Of course, Father always objected to Snakes being honored by the family, since he was a criminal. And even though Great-Great-Grandfather turned all the New Orleans businesses legitimate when he took over, there's still that little issue that he was working with a known criminal. Snakes had legitimate fronts, but everyone working for him knew he had other deals going on in the back."

"Wait a minute," Joey cut in. "I just realized! This guy that's friends with Duke and my sister is a crook?!"

"_Was_ a crook," Duke interrupted impatiently. "He's living honestly now."

"As a gambler," Joey scowled.

"Is there anything about the house in there?" David cut in, thinking it might be prudent to change the subject. Even though the majority of people they associated with were former criminals, Joey would likely be upset for a while that he hadn't been told of Snakes' past.

"I was just coming to that," Evangeline said. "There was a very interesting passage about some kind of lever on one of the tombs in the family cemetery that opens a secret compartment with a family treasure. Apparently that little statue someone unscrewed wasn't the lever, but do you suppose that somebody thought it was?"

"But that would mean somebody else read that diary or knew about that lever some other way," Duke said. "The place has been vacant for years until just several months ago. Who could have done it?"

"Well, I sure didn't," Angelique said. "But I'd like to know who it was too."

"And what about the ghost?" Téa wondered. "Was she trying to lead someone to finding something in that trunk, like the diary?"

"I wish I knew," Evangeline frowned.

"Anyone in the family technically could have been in the house and read the diary," Lector said. "Only why would they wait until the house was occupied again to make their move?"

"Hey, uh . . ." Joey hesitated, awkward. "You don't think that maybe your dad was trying to find that 'family treasure' thinking it would help him out somehow, do you?"

"Anything's possible," Lector said.

"I can't even imagine what it could be," Evangeline said. "But I know I'd like to find it before some prowler does!"

They reached the vans and climbed in. As they started towards home, Serenity looked to Duke. "Hey, Duke, do you think Snakes might know what the treasure is?" she whispered. "Or where it is? I mean, it sounds like his partner trusted him a lot."

"I think it's worth asking him, at least," Duke whispered back. "I'll call when we get back."

xxxx

Somehow, something felt wrong when the group arrived back at the mansion. Everyone had been gone all day and there were no servants, yet as the vehicles pulled into the long driveway it was impossible to shake the ominous feelings. At the same time, no one was quite sure if it was their imagination after being shaken up by The Haunted House or not.

"Something just doesn't feel right here," Evangeline said as they got out. "I can't put my finger on it, but . . ."

"Oh, I hope Oreo is alright!" Bakura exclaimed. "She's been all alone in an unfamiliar house all day!"

"Coming to think about it, if the ghosts came out, she might freak!" Joey realized.

"Well, for once you have a point," Yami Bakura grunted. "She isn't terribly fond of unfamiliar spirits."

"I'm sure she's fine," Angelique tried to soothe them as Evangeline got out the keys.

Soon everyone was entering the house and Bakura was running up the stairs, calling to his beloved cat. Yami Bakura trailed after him, staying alert for any feelings that the ghosts had indeed come out.

Suddenly Evangeline snapped her fingers. "I remembered what's wrong! The upstairs drapes—they're a complete mess!" She ran for the stairs too.

"Did we all subconsciously notice the drapes in one window and that's why something felt wrong?" Téa blinked.

"It's possible," Crump shrugged.

"What room is it?" Lector called after Evangeline. He chased her up the stairs.

"The upstairs study!" Evangeline told him. "You know, the room Great-Grandmother loved because she could sit there and watch the sun set every day!"

"Oreo wasn't in the study." Bakura came out of the room he shared with Yami Bakura, holding the purring cat in his arms. "She couldn't have rumpled the drapes. . . ."

"None of us were in there at all," Yami Bakura grunted. "Not after the tour."

"And I specifically checked that room to make sure everything was in order before going to bed," Angelique said. "The drapes were fine then!"

Téa's eyes widened. "Oh no. . . ."

Lector voiced the horrible thought that was dawning on everyone. "Apparently someone else was in this house while we were gone. And they may still be here!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes: For any newcomers, Snakes is a character from **_**The Wild Wild West**_** who became one of Duke's closest friends, as depicted in **_**Close Your Eyes, Clear Your Heart.**_** Angelique, meanwhile, is a descendant of a character from another episode of **_**The Wild Wild West.**_

**Chapter Four**

A thorough search of the house didn't turn up any intruders, but despite the fact that Oreo was not apparently agitated, no one was very relieved. It was a huge house and Oreo had been confined to one room. She might have no knowledge of the trespasser. What was more, since there were secret passages whose locations Lector and Evangeline were unaware of, there was the very real possibility that whoever had broken in was still there, waiting for the perfect time to slip out again.

Johnson sank down on the bed he was using. "Maybe whoever broke in is the person who called me," he worried.

Nesbitt grunted. "I guess anything's possible. Do you want to talk about it now?" Last night, Nesbitt had awkwardly tried to engage Johnson in conversation but Johnson had balked, preferring to try to go to sleep. Nesbitt, who really wasn't very comfortable with trying to be comforting, had let it go.

Johnson sighed. "What is there really to say?" he said morosely. "I'm being stalked by someone who claims to know my past. Maybe it's a witness I paid off or even someone who went to prison or got fined because of me and now they want revenge. I no doubt deserve it, but no one else here does." He looked up at Nesbitt. "I don't even recognize myself half the time lately! I was always the smooth one, the obnoxious one, and these last few months I've felt more like a broken toy!"

"You think I don't feel strange too?" Nesbitt grunted. "I was supposed to be the logical one. But Lector always knew I was impulsive and reckless, and lately I've also been the most emotional one. The last time we were here, I pretended to be an android because I couldn't deal with the grief of thinking we'd lost Lector! It takes a pretty pathetic person to do something like that." He gestured wildly with his hands before defeatedly sitting down next to Johnson.

"I went catatonic," Johnson said, "which isn't much better. Grief apparently brings out completely new sides of people. But I never thought you were pathetic, Nesbitt. You love Lector. There's no shame in that."

"Well . . ." Nesbitt flushed. "Then you shouldn't find any shame in not being able to stay obnoxious. Some people would consider that a good thing. All it does is show how much you love all of us. You're hurting too much to keep up that front."

". . . That's a good point," Johnson conceded.

Nesbitt shifted on the edge of the mattress. "I don't think I ever really knew the real you until recently. You always tried to hide that person behind your masks and only allowed us small glimpses, such as when we realized you really wanted to be with us when you kept asking us out to your cabin on weekends. I . . . well, it meant a lot to realize how important we were to you."

"So who is the real me?" Johnson wondered. "Someone who breaks down at every little thing that goes wrong?"

"Considering that what's been happening in the last several months is a succession of near-death experiences and things like Lector being kidnapped by a sadistic nutcase, I'd hardly call it 'every little thing,'" Nesbitt shot back. "If things like that aren't times to break down, what is?"

Johnson gave a weak shrug. "I don't know, I guess. . . ."

"The real you loves us so much it hurts. You're not smooth or obnoxious at all, but thoughtful and caring. And you worry a lot about your past and who you might have hurt there. You want to make good and fix what you did wrong. Unfortunately, a lot of what all of us have done can't be fixed. The best we can do is to move forward, like Gansley told you. You'll fix what you can as you go along."

"I've felt like I should be the one getting targeted," Johnson said bitterly. "But now even though I am, that phone call made it clear that everyone else is in danger too. I can't even be the target without everyone else getting hurt!"

"You think we wouldn't be getting hurt if you were the only one in danger?!" Nesbitt got up. "We're all so close-knit that what happens to one of us affects all of us! Why else would none of us have been able to deal with thinking Lector was dead?! We'd feel just as horrible if it was you!"

"I know . . ." Johnson stammered.

"Well, act like it," Nesbitt growled. He walked over to the window.

Johnson awkwardly looked away, pushing up his glasses.

xxxx

Lector was uneasy too. He walked all around the room he was sharing with Crump, checking for secret panels.

Crump helped. "You know, I'm kind of worried about Gansley," he said. "I mean, most of us paired up, but there wasn't anyone to share a room with Gansley. If there is some creep around, maybe they'll come out in his room and hurt him!"

"Or maybe he'll strike them down with his cane if they try," Lector said. He sighed and straightened. "I can't find anything in here."

"Probably everybody's checking their rooms," Crump said. "Man, what if whoever busted in really is still here?! And what the heck do they want?!"

"It could be whoever threatened Johnson," Lector said. "On the other hand, it could be a completely different plot. Someone may be after this 'family treasure,' or maybe someone is trying to intimidate a lot of us regarding the court cases."

"There's too much going on," Crump complained. ". . . And I know how hard it is for you to be back here at all, Buddy. . . ."

Lector sighed and shook his head. "My problems aren't important. Intruders and threatening telephone calls . . . that's what we should be focusing on.

"I enjoyed our outing today. I'm hoping I can feel better about New Orleans instead of associating it with everything that's gone wrong for me."

"I hope you can too," Crump said, "but I know the hurt's never gonna go away completely. Maybe you should . . . I don't know, try talking to your mom and your other siblings when we're not in court? Maybe they'd be nicer in a different setting. Being in court to testify about a family member's garbage has gotta be stressful."

"I've considered that," Lector admitted. "But you'd think if they really felt good towards me they'd make the next move themselves."

"Yeah, I know." Crump frowned. "I just don't get why they're all on the rocks with you, Buddy. You didn't do anything to them!"

"I don't understand any of what's happened," Lector retorted. "It really is like a nightmare I can't escape."

"Maybe you should talk to that Snakes guy?" Crump suggested. "Well, I mean, it wouldn't help this mess in the present, but maybe you'd learn some good stuff about your ancestors and that might kind of help. . . ."

"I haven't even thought about him," Lector said. "It sounds a little more outlandish today about him being alive and in this day and age. But if it's really true . . . yes, I think I'd like to talk to him. My great-great-grandfather must have been a kinder person than my father."

"And more tolerant and caring," Crump said. "Even naming that hotel after Snakes because he was so grateful to get a chance to break into the business world. . . . Your whole family really owes a lot to Snakes, when you think about it!"

"That's true," Lector acknowledged. "My father wouldn't even have the position of power he enjoyed so much if it wasn't for Snakes. Who knows what the family would be doing, really."

"What _was _your family doing before Snakes showed up?" Crump wondered.

". . . To be honest, I don't know," Lector realized in chagrin. "Father never wanted to talk about that, if he knew himself. The only thing I know is that there were people who practiced _vodun_."

"Oh right, to clash with Dr. Raven's ancestors," Crump remembered. "That crazy rivalry thing."

Lector nodded. "Of course, Father found anything to do with _vodun_ completely shameful. He was horrified that any of our ancestors had practiced it."

"But it's really big in Haiti," Crump said.

"I know," Lector said. "It's no surprise to me that my Haitian ancestors brought it to New Orleans and kept practicing it, and that it continued after they married into the European side of the family. But it's also not a surprise to me that eventually a stop was put to it. I believe it was my great-grandfather who wanted it stopped."

"How do you keep track of all the greats?" Crump quipped.

"It's not always easy," Lector said. He walked to the doorway. "We should probably see if anyone else has found anything. . . ."

Crump hopped up to follow. "You're on!"

xxxx

Duke had definitely not found anything, so at last he retreated to his and David's room and called Snakes in Los Angeles. It was never a sure thing as to whether he would actually reach his poker-playing friend, but this time he was in luck, as the telephone was quickly picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, Snakes." Duke stood at the window to talk. ". . . Look, I don't like to bother you about things and times you'd probably rather forget or not think about, but there's some kind of a family treasure mentioned in an old diary here. You don't happen to know what that treasure might be, do you? Or where we might find it?"

"I'm afraid not," Snakes said. "It was probably put together after my . . . er . . . departure."

"I don't think so," Duke said. "You were talked about in the diary too, and apparently around the same timeframe as the treasure was mentioned."

"Then you've got the advantage over me, Pal," Snakes drawled. "I have no idea what they were cooking up." He hesitated. "What's it like there? In that house, I mean."

"It still looks a lot like it must have back then," Duke said. "The family really went all-out preserving the furniture and everything. It's pretty impressive. The bad news is, it looks like someone else is hanging around."

"What do you mean?"

"Somebody mysteriously unscrewed a statue in the family cemetery sometime in the last 72 hours, and today somebody was in the house while we were gone," Duke said. "They left the drapes in the upstairs study out of order. . . . Oh hey, do you know about any secret passages in the house?"

"I sure do. Maybe they've been boarded up by now, but there was one in the downstairs study," Snakes reported. "Ismael—my old business partner—showed it to me and laughingly told me he'd use it whenever he wanted to escape from too many people in the house. You had to press something on the fireplace mantle to get it to open. I think it was a . . . sunflower?"

"That's a great help, Snakes," Duke said in relief. "Anything else you can think of?"

". . . I believe there's one in the kitchen. It activated by arranging the silverware on display in a particular way, but now I don't remember how."

"We'll tinker with it," Duke said.

"Just be careful." An edge had creeped into Snakes' voice. "You don't know who's hanging around there, but you know how the thoughts of money and wealth make people go a little crazy."

"I sure do," Duke said darkly.

"Ask him about the siren," David whispered from the other bed.

Duke rolled his eyes a bit but said, "Did you ever hear about weird stuff on the property, like . . . ghosts or . . . other supernatural things?"

"New Orleans is big on ghosts," Snakes said. "Yeah, there was a ghost walking around even back then. White dress, long, dark hair. . . . Nobody knew who she was. And Ismael did tell me some story about a siren in the pool out back. Not that either of us believed it." He paused. "But after everything we've been through, it wouldn't hurt to be careful."

"Yeah, I guess," Duke frowned. "And that ghost is still around; she freaked Joey out last night. She was digging in a trunk at the end of the hall."

"I guess the trunk requires more investigating then," Snakes said.

"Probably. Evangeline looked through some of it last night and . . . well, she found a picture with you in it and now everyone here knows you're from the past. Sorry."

"Eh. Oh well. It's not like any of that information can really be used to hurt me." Snakes hesitated. "What do Ismael's descendants think, though?"

"I think they were both too worried about the court case to really focus much on it," Duke said. "But if they start thinking about it more later, would you mind talking to them about their ancestors sometime? They might like to hear what you'd have to say."

"Sure. I'll tell them what I can."

"Thanks. Okay, I'll talk to you later. Serenity and David say Hello, by the way."

"Glad they're alright. You be careful now." Snakes sounded genuinely worried. "If I think you're getting in over your head, I'll come out here."

"We'd love to see you," Duke said. "It's been too long. Although hopefully we won't have to meet under grim circumstances."

David was very perked up as Duke ended the call. "He told you something juicy, I can tell," he observed.

"You're right." Duke got up and headed for the door. "He knew of two secret passageways. Let's go tell everyone else." He paused, his hand on the doorknob. "Oh, and that ghost has been around since at least the 1860s."

"Ooh." David winced. "Should we tell Joey?"

"Good question," Duke deadpanned. "We'll think about it on the way."

xxxx

Evangeline was both delighted and apprehensive to learn of the secret passages. After all, for all they knew, their intruder could be hiding in one of them. Angelique thought the one in the kitchen sounded harder to activate, so by mutual agreement everyone went downstairs to the study to try to open the other one.

"I guess this is the sunflower?" Joey poked a design on the end of the mantle. As he did, the wall groaned and the entire fireplace moved outward. He yelped, jumping back.

Yami Bakura approached the open passage with mild interest. "Well, there's certainly a lot of space to hide back there." The area beyond was wide enough for four people to walk across the floor next to each other. Oil lamps were placed at various locations up and down the corridor, none of them lit.

Evangeline stepped inside in determination. "Let's see where this leads." She took out her flashlight and immediately started walking. Lector hurried after her, and the Big Four hurried after him.

"So, who all's going?" Joey wondered.

"Someone should probably stay back, just in case the panel swings shut and we can't get back out," Yugi said.

"We'll do that," Duke interjected, indicating himself and David. But as he tried to point out Serenity too, she headed for the passageway instead.

"I'd like to see what's down there," she said.

Duke sighed. "Then we're going too."

Eventually, Ishizu and Rishid opted to stay back while the others investigated. Marik didn't look terribly keen on exploring a dark passageway either, but since Mokuba was curious he decided to try it.

"Nobody's probably been down here in ages," Joey frowned as they advanced into the space. "It's all airtight."

"Except look at that!" Téa pointed to a spiderweb up in a corner. "There has to be an opening somewhere for that to happen. Maybe people have even been using this place for a while."

"Well, we're going to find out," Evangeline declared.

The tunnel went straight for a while, then turned to the right and slanted down.

"We must be underneath the house now," Angelique said.

Eventually the tunnel sloped upward again. The group walked up several steps to another wall.

"So that's it?!" Joey frowned.

"There must be a way to open this somehow," Lector said.

Everyone began feeling across the wall and pressing it in various spots. At last something clicked and a panel swung outward, revealing a dark and musty room.

". . . What is this?" Joey asked.

Yami Bakura walked in. "Ah, this brings back memories," he mused. He walked up to a statue of the Madonna and then turned back to Joey with a smirk. "I robbed so many places like this back in the day."

Joey went sheet-white. "We're _in_ a _tomb?!_" he screamed, his voice echoing off every wall.

Mai facepalmed. "Oh, way to wake up all the ghosts, Joey. Maybe they wouldn't have noticed otherwise."

Evangeline ran past them, excited. "So this is the way into the cemetery! It didn't start in the basement after all!" She looked around, studying each tomb chamber and the name on each one to orient herself.

"I have a question," Tristan said. "How do we get out? Aren't these things locked from the outside?"

"They're supposed to be." Lector walked to the doors and rattled them. To his astonishment, they creaked open.

". . . Okay. That's . . . not a good thing, right?" Crump gulped.

"It means someone else unlocked this tomb for some reason, at some point," Lector said. He looked to Evangeline. "Do you have the only keys?"

"Yes," she said slowly. "Well, unless someone else in the family made a set for themselves without my knowledge. . . ." She took them out, carefully studying them.

Seto came over to look. "There could be traces of wax on them, if someone made impressions from your set." He frowned at the key for this tomb. "I definitely see flecks of what might be wax."

"Who had access to your keys, Evangeline?" Gansley asked.

"Oh . . . everyone in the old house," Evangeline stammered. "The keys were kept in Mother's room until I asked for them. Any of the servants could have made a set, or anyone in the family. Adele and Michel and Phillipe visited sometimes, even though they moved to their own houses in the city." Worried, she slipped the keys into her pocket. "We can't go asking if anyone made their own set of keys from this set. . . ."

"Well, why not?" Seto grunted. "Your family has given you plenty of reasons not to trust them. It's not like you'd be backstabbing them by asking if any of them did that."

". . . That's true," Evangeline said slowly. "Maybe we should then."

"But then you run the risk of tipping the crook off that you're on to him," Crump said.

"It's not like they wouldn't know we'd be on to them," Seto retorted. "We'd have to be stupid not to notice all these different things they've done."

". . . You know, they are pretty sloppy," Crump said. "What if they _want_ us to notice?"

"Why would they?" Lector frowned.

"That's something I've gotta think about some more," Crump said.

". . . It could be whoever threatened me," Johnson said weakly. "They could want us to know they're around stalking us."

Unfortunately, no one could deny that possibility. All of the strange happenings could be part of that plot against Johnson, instead of there being two separate plots.

"Well . . ." Evangeline looked worried and awkward. "How do we want to return to the house? Should we go back the way we came or walk around the outside?"

"We should walk around the outside, just in case there's any more clues," Duke said.

That was agreed upon and the group trouped out of the mausoleum, Evangeline pausing to lock it again once they were all out. But nothing strange was spotted on the way back, and by the time they returned to the house it seemed that all was well.

"What happened?" Ishizu asked in bewilderment when they appeared at the study doorway.

"It's a long and bewildering story, Sister," Marik replied. He and the others started to explain as they headed back upstairs. They hadn't finished telling it when Johnson went into his room and suddenly stiffened in the doorway.

"What is it?" Nesbitt demanded. He came up behind Johnson to look over his shoulder.

A piece of paper had been laid on Johnson's pillow. On it was a drawing of a skull and crossbones.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Johnson ran into the room, pointing at the paper in outrage and indignation. "That wasn't there before we left to go downstairs! I would have noticed!"

"So someone really is in this house with us," Lector said in horror.

"Or there's one other possibility," Seto spoke up. "One of us did it."

Everyone spun around to stare at Seto. "But . . . nobody here would do that, big brother," Mokuba protested.

"Of course we wouldn't!" Joey cried, clenching a fist. "What the heck, Kaiba?!"

"There's always the possibility that someone was hypnotized or brainwashed into doing it," Seto said. He didn't want to add "by magic."

"But people can't be hypnotized into doing something they wouldn't do," Bakura protested.

"If they're mind-controlled, some of them can," Marik said. "Or at least . . . I always thought so, before I tried to control Joey. . . ." He hated to mention that dark time, and from the way Joey's eyes flickered, he wasn't happy with the mention either.

"But who could do something like that?" Téa protested. "And who would they choose?"

"The most obvious answer is that it's someone connected with Dr. Raven," Seto said. "And the most likely candidate is his niece, Angelique."

"What?" Angelique fell back, eyes wide. "No! I swear I didn't do this!"

"You probably wouldn't even remember," Seto said. ". . . Unless you really are loyal to your uncle and you don't need to be brainwashed to help him."

Evangeline's eyes flashed. "Angelique would never help him on purpose!" she insisted.

"She didn't immediately try to help me and Crump out of the freezer," Seto pointed out. "She was too scared because she'd been threatened. What if she was threatened again now? What would she do?"

"I haven't had any contact with my uncle or his lawyer!" Angelique cried. "I didn't do this, or any of the other bizarre things!" She turned and fled to her room, slamming the door.

Everyone stood in stunned silence. No one was quite sure what to think or say or do. Seto had made a good point, unfortunately, but they hated to think he was right.

". . . I'd better go to her," Evangeline said at last. "Excuse me. . . ." She quickly departed from the group.

Seto looked to the rest. "Well?" He folded his arms. "What do you think?"

"I think Angelique is our friend," Téa said. "I don't think you should have accused her, Kaiba."

"Should I have waited and done it behind her back?" Seto retorted.

"I don't think you should have done it at all," Téa snapped.

"There are other suspects." Seto looked around the group until he spotted Nesbitt and locked eyes with him. "You're sharing the room with Johnson."

"What?!" Nesbitt rocked back in shock. Then his eyes flamed. "You think I'd do that to my friend?!"

"Look what you did to Lector when Yami Marik was controlling you," Seto countered.

Pain filled Nesbitt's eyes and he turned away, clenching a shaking fist.

"That was uncalled-for," Lector snarled. "As far as things go, Mr. Kaiba, isn't it usually the person you least suspect who's guilty? In that case, maybe it's you!"

"What?!" Seto spat. "You're actually accusing _me_ of working for that slime?!"

"Not while knowing what you're doing," Lector said.

"Seto's way too strong to be mind-controlled!" Mokuba cried.

"_Stop!"_ Yugi ran in between them. "This isn't getting us anywhere! We shouldn't be throwing accusations at each other! We need to work together or we'll never solve this!"

"We need to consider all the options!" Seto insisted. "Raven would love to have at least one of us working against everyone else!"

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean he could really get any of us," Yugi said.

Atem stepped forward. "Yugi is right," he said. "We must stay united if we're going to have any chance! Raven would also love seeing us falling into arguments and distrusting each other."

Yugi nodded. "Right now we should focus on our original idea, that someone unwelcome is in the house with us. Or else they come and go whenever they want because they use another secret passageway we haven't found yet."

"We still didn't try the one in the kitchen," Serenity ventured.

"I don't even remember seeing a silverware display," Lector said. "That may have been one thing that either wasn't preserved or was taken down and put in storage."

Duke sighed. "Maybe the best thing is to keep reading that diary, but Evangeline has it and she might not even feel like reading it now."

"So let's go back to that trunk and see what else is in there!" Joey suggested. "Maybe there's more diaries or something else just as helpful!"

"You're willing to risk seeing the ghost again?" Tristan quipped.

"Eh." Joey turned away with a scowl. "It probably won't come out if a lot of us are there."

It sounded like a good idea, so they went back to the trunk and Lector knelt to go through the rest of it. ". . . This looks like what the silverware is displayed in," he said after a moment. He held up an old, hand-carved display board. "Unfortunately, we may also need the old silverware to make it work, and that doesn't seem to be here. I've only seen modern silverware in the kitchen drawers."

"We should try it with modern silverware anyway, just in case," Yugi said. "I can work with that, unless you have any memory of how it went at all, Lector. . . ."

"It was arranged in an aesthetically pleasing way," Lector said. "But I don't recall if it was small to large or vice versa."

Yugi took the display board. "I'll figure it out. It's like a puzzle, so there has to be a solution," he said with a bright smile.

"And if anyone can find it, Yugi can," Téa smiled.

Lector dug deeper into the trunk. ". . . This looks like a log my great-great-grandfather was writing," he said as he flipped through a small book. "I'll look it over in case there's something important in it."

"Anything else?" Nesbitt asked.

"I don't see anything else that could possibly be relevant," Lector said. He straightened and shut the lid.

Yugi headed to the kitchen to work on the silverware display. Several of the others went with him, while the rest began to slowly filter back to their rooms. Nesbitt lingered in the hall, not facing anyone but not wanting to leave.

"Nesbitt."

He jumped and turned at the sound of Lector's voice. ". . . Do you really still trust me?" he asked.

"Would I stop trusting you just because Mr. Kaiba said something ridiculous?" Lector came closer to him. "I know you didn't put that piece of paper on Johnson's pillow and you're not responsible for anything else that's gone wrong either!"

"How can you be that sure?" Nesbitt countered. "Dr. Raven could be mind-controlling me. . . ."

"No, he couldn't," Lector insisted. "You know what it is to be mind-controlled. You have the willpower to resist it now, and I know you will!"

"We all know it," Gansley said firmly.

Nesbitt started. Gansley, Crump, and Johnson had lingered as well, and were only now making their presence known.

"You're sure?" Nesbitt persisted.

"One hundred percent sure," Crump said gruffly.

Nesbitt looked to Johnson. "You could stay with Gansley if you wanted," he said slowly.

"I trust you, Nesbitt," Johnson insisted. "I'll be fine. So will you!"

Nesbitt looked down and finally nodded. "Thank you. . . ."

Johnson laid a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go back to the room. I'd like to look around and make sure again that there aren't any secret passages in there before we go to bed."

"I guess we can't be too careful," Nesbitt acknowledged.

Lector relaxed as they walked off, but tensed again when he saw Mokuba watching him from the doorway of the Kaibas' room. He quickly walked over. "Mokuba, I hope you're not too angry with me for what I said."

"Well . . ." Mokuba frowned. "I didn't like it, of course. I mean, at least what Seto said had a point to it. I can't see any point in taking a dig at Seto."

Lector sighed. "I don't really believe he's responsible for anything. I said it because I was angry and I wanted to show him that it doesn't feel good to receive an accusation when you know you're innocent. Nesbitt's had a very difficult time getting over what he did to me. I felt there was no reason for your brother to bring it up again."

"I guess I can see that," Mokuba said. He looked away. He could never forget how Nesbitt had cried out in utter agony as he had broke through Yami Marik's mind-control with the realization that he had badly hurt Lector. He had been absolutely hysterical, unable to calm himself until he knew Lector was going to be alright.

Mokuba gripped the door. He would be completely devastated if he ever did something to hurt Seto, and if it got brought up again when he was finally healing from it, that would definitely hurt.

". . . He'll probably be thinking about it again tonight, won't he," he said at last.

"I'm afraid he will," Lector said. "He's been wondering how any of us can trust him after what your brother said."

"I'm sorry." Mokuba let go of the door and finally looked up at Lector. "And . . . I don't want to stay mad at you. You're just feeling protective of your brother, like I am about Seto."

Lector nodded. "That's true. I'm glad you understand, Mokuba."

"Yeah." Mokuba managed a small smile. "Well . . . I hope Nesbitt is going to be okay. And I hope you are. I know coming back here is tough."

"It is," Lector said wearily, "and all of the commotion isn't making it any easier."

Mokuba shivered. "It's really spooky to think that somebody's in the house with us. Who could it be?! What could they want?! Are they just trying to psych us out, or is that only the first step and people are going to start getting hurt?!"

"I'm certainly afraid it may be the latter," Lector said. "I do agree with your brother that all possibilities need to be considered, and that, unfortunately, is a very strong possibility."

Mokuba looked down, biting his lip. "I hope none of us will get hurt," he said softly.

Lector certainly did as well. "After everyone is sure that there aren't secret passageways in their rooms, I wonder if it would be wise to lock the doors tonight."

"That's a good idea," Mokuba said in some relief. "If the doors can really be locked. . . ."

"They can be," Lector assured him. "Each individual room locks from the inside."

That was definitely encouraging. "I'll make sure we lock the door," Mokuba smiled. "Thanks, Lector."

"Stay safe," Lector told him.

He waited until Mokuba went into the room and shut the door. When he heard the click of the door locking, he headed back towards his and Crump's room. As he approached, it was obvious that Crump was having a heated discussion with Gansley.

"Come on! You're the only one besides Evangeline and Angelique who has a separate room! Things are getting really dangerous here! It's not safe for you to be alone!"

"And just what do you propose, Crump?" Gansley spoke dryly. "Should I move into your and Lector's room and sleep on the floor? Or maybe you want to see a repeat of that disastrous night in the over-booked San Francisco hotel and try to have two of us crowd into one bed."

Crump exhaled in frustration. "Hey, you escaped that craziness by claiming the daybed."

"Yes, and I have no desire to find out what it's like," Gansley grunted. "Johnson and Lector had quite a time of it sharing with you and Nesbitt, respectively. Anyway . . ." He raised an eyebrow. "I highly doubt I could even fit on a bed with any of the rest of you. They're just twin beds."

"I just don't want you to get hurt," Crump said.

"I'll make sure the room is free of secret passages and I'll lock the door," Gansley said. "And I'll keep my cane nearby in case I need to strike an unwanted visitor down."

"You'd better lock the window too," Crump said.

"I will," Gansley promised.

Lector sighed. He had to admit he was worried too. How could he not be, after things had grown more ominous? But Gansley was right that there really wasn't a solution to the problem. There was simply no one for him to share with and no way for him to bunk with two others in any given room.

Maybe, however, Lector should suggest that Evangeline and Angelique bunk together until this mystery was cleared up.

He turned, quickly striding back up the hall to Angelique's room. As far as he knew, Evangeline was still in there with her. He swiftly knocked on the door. "Evangeline?"

After a moment the door opened. "Démas. . . ." Evangeline looked exhausted.

"How's Angelique?" Lector asked.

"She's still upset," Evangeline said. "Only now she's terrified wondering if there's any way that Dr. Raven could be mind-controlling her without her knowledge."

"I really don't think so," Lector said. "Dr. Raven doesn't even have his powers any longer."

"We hope," Evangeline said. "Maybe he doesn't need his staff to make them work."

"Now, don't go thinking that or you'll never be able to calm Angelique down or relax yourself," Lector tried to soothe her. "And I think the two of you should stay in one room until we find out what's going on around here."

"I was thinking the same thing," Evangeline said. "And . . . you know, I really wasn't planning that we'd ever have any servants, but the place is so big and it'll be lonely when all of you go home. I'm kind of thinking it might be nice to have a couple of maids around or something. Maybe a butler."

"I think that's a good idea, as long as you properly screen them all first," Lector said.

Evangeline smiled a bit. "I'm used to a lot of people in the house. I like that the best." She stepped into the hall. "I'll just get a few things and then I'll stay with Angelique tonight."

Lector moved aside, watching in approval.

xxxx

Johnson and Nesbitt had been aggressively going over every square inch of their room again, desperately searching for any possible lever or panel that might open the wall or floor or ceiling. They had checked before, and just as before, there was nothing. But while Nesbitt was ready to call it a night, Johnson wanted to keep looking.

"We need to make sure," he insisted. "The last thing we need is someone coming up to mug us in our sleep. If anything happens in here, you know Kaiba will try to insist you did it."

Nesbitt paused, staring at him. "That's your reason for wanting to keep at this?"

"One of them," Johnson said. He got on the floor and crawled under his bed, feeling across the floor.

"I just don't know how you can all trust me like this," Nesbitt remarked. He walked over to the wardrobe built into the wall and opened the doors. "I mean, after what I did in the winter, it's clearly obvious that I'm capable of any- . . ." He let out a cry as the backing of the wardrobe tore open when he wasn't expecting it and he plunged through into space.

"Nesbitt?!" Immediately Johnson came out from under the bed and ran to the open wardrobe. "Nesbitt, are you here?! Are you hurt?!"

". . . I'm here," Nesbitt finally growled.

Johnson dug out his phone and shined its flashlight into the hole. All that was beyond was empty space and a long drop down, save for a horizontal pipe that Nesbitt was desperately holding on to like it was a jungle gym at a playground. As Johnson watched, he inched his way back to the wardrobe and grabbed for it with one hand. Johnson grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to safety.

"Well," Nesbitt sputtered as he knelt on the floor of the wardrobe among several fallen articles of clothing, "no one came through this way, but now it's wide open!"

"No one could travel through here," Johnson retorted. He leaned in again and beamed the flashlight around the space. "This is bizarre, though. Why does the wardrobe lead to this anyway? Why wasn't it properly closed off with plaster and wood?"

"Evangeline probably has no idea either," Nesbitt said.

". . . And I have to confess it seems unsettling to think of staying here knowing this opening is here," Johnson said. "Technically, someone could grab the other end of that pipe and climb hand over hand until reaching the wardrobe, like you did."

"So what do you want to do?" Nesbitt grunted. ". . . You're still welcome to move in with Gansley."

"And leave you here alone with this?!" Johnson exclaimed. "I completely object!" He grabbed Nesbitt's wrist again and pulled him out of the wardrobe. "Let's just take our clothes out, close the wardrobe, and try to find a way to keep it closed. Maybe . . ." He fell silent, pondering on the problem as he and Nesbitt removed their clothes from the wardrobe.

"Here." Nesbitt grabbed a tie off a hanger and shut the doors, then threaded the tie through the handles and tied it several times.

"Clever," Johnson smirked in approval. "And let's just add this." He brought a chair over and wedged it under the handles.

"Should we tell the others what we found?" Nesbitt asked.

"We probably should," Johnson sighed, "although we all need to get some sleep before court tomorrow. Let's find new places for these clothes so we can go to bed."

Nesbitt was agreeable to that.

xxxx

Gansley wasn't sure what woke him up in the middle of the night. He started, looking blearily around the darkened room before reaching for the lamp next to the bed. Nothing _looked_ amiss, but there was a definite feeling that something wasn't right.

He grabbed his cane and sat up, then pushed himself off the bed. Had someone broken in? Everything looked just as it had when he had laid down. But what was that eerie feeling?

Bah! Maybe he was just letting Joey's fear of ghosts get to him.

He unlocked the door and stepped into the hallway. Everything seemed calm, but the feeling persisted. He walked a couple of doors down and stepped into the large bathroom. It was as big as a bedroom, with the sink and mirror near the door, the huge tub off to the side near the middle, cleaning supplies across from the tub, and the toilet at the back. He had gone in as a test, and the feeling was not only still present, but stronger here.

"Are you playing at being a voyeur?" Gansley grunted, only half-sarcastically.

He moved to walk back out, but the door suddenly flew open and Evangeline was standing there, regarding him in surprise. "Mr. Gansley . . . excuse me. . . ." She hesitated when he just walked out. ". . . You feel it, don't you?"

"The eyes constantly watching me? Unfortunately, yes," Gansley growled. "I felt it in my bedroom first."

Evangeline sighed. "I wanted to believe it was my imagination. I've felt it sometimes, but unless Angelique is lying, she says she hasn't."

"You don't sound like you believe it's just your family," Gansley said.

"Even if it is, I have to wonder if it's any of the good people I remember," Evangeline said. "Why would they do things like this and act so inhospitable? It even follows me into the bathroom!" Her shoulders slumped and she held a hand to her forehead. "I've found it happens when I'm alone. I told Démas I'd decided to hire some servants after all of you leave, to fill up the house with more people. That's a lot of the reason why; I'm hoping to chase away this horrible feeling."

"Have you asked any of the rest of the family about it?" Gansley asked.

"No, and I don't intend to," Evangeline said emphatically. "Mother didn't think I'd last long here and I'd come crawling back to her and Father. After the way they treated Démas, I can't go back, ever! And that means I have to stay here, no matter what. . . ." Her voice lowered and quavered. Now she sounded lost.

"Then what are you planning to do?" Gansley left the gruff tones out of his voice now.

"I don't know," Evangeline said morosely. Another long hesitation. "And I suppose now that I know this feeling isn't just me, I had better come clean and admit that I haven't been entirely honest about the house, either."

Gansley stared at her. "What else have you been concealing?!"

"Remember the big double doors on the ground floor that I said just led to some empty space we were renovating?" Evangeline said. "Duke and Serenity were talking at that point and I don't think they were paying attention, but you seemed attentive. . . ."

Gansley had. Mai had wanted to go in there, thinking it probably led to another wing of the house, but Evangeline had insisted there wasn't anything to see but broken walls and hanging wooden beams. When she had said it was a mess and possibly dangerous, everyone had opted not to look.

"I lied," Evangeline told him. "It's a beautifully furnished wing with lots more bedrooms. But when I went in there to investigate, I felt the most awful feeling of being unwelcome. I didn't feel it in the other part of the house, so I knew I wasn't imagining that. It was in every room in that wing! I ran back out and locked the doors and I haven't been in since. I didn't even tell Angelique the truth; I was afraid she'd be too scared to come live with me, and I didn't think I could do it alone. . . ."

"You would have had to tell her sometime," Gansley said.

"I know," Evangeline nodded, "and I guess I'd better tell everyone the truth now." She straightened. "Will you help me?"

It certainly wasn't something Gansley had ever thought he would be doing, but he nodded too. "Very well."

He couldn't help feeling a bit of apprehension. What on Earth was wrong in this house?


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Joey was sitting on his bed, frowning at the floor. Yugi was still downstairs working with the spoon puzzle, but Joey had decided to go up to bed. Just like last night, he was having trouble sleeping. But unlike last night, his reason was different now.

_So there's a ghost in the house. So what? I mean, it really hasn't done any harm. Why can't I just let it go?_

Joey scowled. He had always been terrified of ghosts, and yet, oddly enough, Atem had been a ghost. Joey hadn't really thought of him that way, possibly because he had used Yugi's body to communicate with them in the past. And of course, now he had his own body back and had been given a second chance. Yami Bakura was still a ghost, only mortal because of the Infinity Ring. And there had been Alexander the Great. . . . And Tristan had made a good point about the spirit who had helped them in the cemetery on their previous trip to New Orleans.

Really, it was completely understandable and logical to freak about a ghost if you didn't know if it was good or bad, or if you knew it was bad. But why flip about a benign ghost?

Joey got off the bed and headed for the door with determined eyes. He was going to go right out into that hall and meet that creepy ghost head-on. Maybe he'd even ask what she was looking for. He would show that he could conquer his fear!

He wasn't expecting to see Gansley and Evangeline in the hall, apparently engaged in a concerned conversation. They both looked up when he opened the door.

"Oh . . . did we wake you?" Evangeline asked.

"Nah, I was still up." Joey walked over to them. "What's going on? Did something else happen?"

Evangeline sighed and Gansley looked uncomfortable. Finally Gansley said, "It seems we have a small problem. There are apparently more spirits in this house than just one."

Joey went sheet-white. _"WHAT?!"_

Doors flew open up and down the hall. "Okay, _now_ what?!" Mai exclaimed in frustration.

"Dude, you've done it again!" Tristan said, both exasperated and annoyed.

"Actually, I'm afraid this time there's a real reason to be upset," Evangeline said softly. "Is Yugi still downstairs?"

"Yeah, with Atem and Téa," Tristan said.

Evangeline walked past him to the stairs. "Let's all go down. I need to talk to everyone about something."

The group exchanged confused and bewildered looks, but followed her down.

Yugi looked up when they all entered the kitchen. "Oh, hi!" he greeted. "I know it's late. We were just going to come up to bed soon. I haven't figured out the secret combination yet." He pushed the display board back on the counter.

"That's okay." Evangeline waited until everyone was in the room, then took a deep breath and announced, "We still don't know who's doing things like sending threatening calls and pictures, but there's something I should have told everyone about this house before." She looked down. "I can't even get into part of it. . . ."

"What?! What are you talking about?!" Joey demanded. "And what's that got to do with more ghosts?!"

"Everything," Gansley grunted. "That wing that was supposedly under renovation? It's actually apparently off-limits to mortals."

Several gasps went up. Seto just looked bored.

Lector was more than a little disturbed. "Evangeline?!" He hurried over to his sister. "Do you mean the North wing?!"

"Yes." Evangeline nodded, then paused and looked up. "Do you remember that Great-Grandmother didn't want us to go in there years ago?"

"I do," Lector frowned. "But she would never say why. I forgot all about it until now. I should have remembered when you didn't want to include it in the tour yesterday."

"It's understandable you wouldn't think about that," Evangeline said. "You had far more important things to think about."

Angelique just stared at her. "What is all this?! You told me it was being renovated too, that the project had been stopped in the middle after your great-grandmother's death and equipment was everywhere!"

Evangeline looked away. "I lied. I'm so sorry. I wanted to make sure you'd come, because I didn't want to be alone. . . ."

"I still don't get what the problem is," Seto said. "What do you mean, it's off-limits to mortals?" He looked to Gansley, then to Evangeline.

"Every single room in that wing carries a feeling that you're trespassing," Evangeline said. "I felt perfectly strongly that I wasn't welcome in any of those rooms. I know how that must sound . . ."

"It sounds ludicrous!" Seto snorted.

"But that's the only part of the house that feels that way!" Evangeline finished. "It is _not_ my imagination!"

"However, there is a voyeuristic ghost upstairs that likes to spy on people when they're alone," Gansley added. "I woke up feeling it watching me, and it followed me into the hall and the bathroom."

"Seriously?" Crump blinked.

"I've felt it on the third floor too," Evangeline admitted. "But again, only when I'm alone. And sometimes only if I linger in a certain place for too long."

"So how come none of us felt it?!" Téa exclaimed. "It wasn't there when I showered in the morning!"

"Perhaps you're just not attuned enough," Yami Bakura grunted.

"Or maybe it only comes out at night?" Yugi suggested.

Joey looked like he wasn't sure whether to cry or yell. "We can't let the ghosts get the better of us like this!" he finally burst out. "This isn't their house!"

"What if it used to be?" Evangeline retorted. "Then they have as much right to be here as us."

"Not if they're gonna be jerks about it!" Joey clenched a fist.

"I say we should all go in this North wing and look around," Seto said. "I have no intention of being pushed around by any spirits, and neither should you!" He looked to Evangeline. "This house is for the living. Make sure they know that!"

Joey's outrage faded. "You want us to go in there?!" he wailed, his knees knocking.

"What's the matter, Wheeler? Are you too scared?" Seto gave him a bored but knowing look.

"I think this is a perfect reason to be scared!" Angelique exclaimed. "I never liked it when my uncle did anything supernatural! I just knew he was calling upon evil spirits from the other side to help him!"

"Unfortunately, Mr. Kaiba has a point," Gansley said. "We need to experience this for ourselves. Perhaps someone will be able to come up with a solution."

Yami Bakura grunted. "It could be as simple as the former residents not wanting to leave and wanting to be left alone. Or . . ." He peered at Evangeline. "You don't know of any disasters or tragedies that happened on the property, do you?"

"No," Evangeline said slowly. "For as long as I can remember, the North wing was off-limits."

"I've been looking through Great-Great-Grandfather Ismael's log," Lector said. "He hasn't mentioned anything happening, but I did pass an entry where he mentioned changing the lock on the doors leading to the North wing."

"That sounds like they were being kept shut even then," Atem said in surprise. "But how on Earth could something like this have been kept secret for so long? Surely people tried to go in there before Evangeline!"

"Let's go there and find out for ourselves," Yami Bakura said. "Perhaps the spirits will even talk to one of us."

Finally conceding defeat, Evangeline slowly took out her keys. "Alright. . . ."

Oreo tensed in Bakura's arms as they approached the mysterious doors and Evangeline unlocked them. As Evangeline started to push one of the doors open, the cat yowled, struggling desperately to get down.

"Oreo!" Bakura exclaimed.

". . . Well, that's pretty good confirmation right there that something's not kosher," Crump said.

"I don't want her alone in the main part of the house if we're all going in there!" Bakura said. He couldn't hold on to the squirming kitty, however, and Oreo dropped to the floor. But instead of abandoning everyone, she stood on the floor and hissed at empty space inside the wing.

". . . That is _not_ encouraging," Tristan declared.

"Oh, so now you're scared too?!" Joey snapped.

"A random ghost walking down the hall or looking in a trunk is a lot different than this!" Tristan insisted.

"Well . . ." Evangeline gave a weak smile. "Are we going in, or should I just lock it up behind us and we'll forget all about it?"

"We can't forget all about it," Yami Bakura snorted. He pushed past her and stepped into the new corridor. "Let's investigate."

"I was afraid he was going to say that," Joey moaned.

Yugi tried to smile. "It can't be any worse than the Shadow Realm. Right, guys?"

"At least in the Shadow Realm, you know you're dealing with lost souls," Tristan said. "Who knows what we're up against now!"

The group slowly stepped over the threshold and into the forbidden realm. Rooms spread out before them in a long hallway, and to the far side near the outside wall, there was another staircase.

"So . . . where does this go?" Crump wondered. "I mean, this means there's another way to get to this part of the house, but we didn't see one upstairs. There weren't any other rooms you blocked off."

"I know," Evangeline frowned. "I guess the upstairs part of this area must be behind another secret wall."

"This is just getting even freakier," Joey said with a shudder.

"Let's look down here first," Atem said.

That wasn't much of a comfort. Oreo stayed at her masters' heels, growling and hissing at every room they passed. And Evangeline had been right about the feeling; the longer they stayed and tried to look, the stronger the sensation became that they were intruding and not welcome.

"Please, we don't mean you any harm," Atem said, stopping in front of one bedroom. "We simply wish to understand who you are and what you want, and why you don't want any visitors here!"

The only reply was a more intensified wave of warning.

"I don't like this," Serenity said. She shrank back near Duke and Joey. "I think we should leave!"

"I think that's a perfect idea!" Joey exclaimed. "Who knows what they'll do if we keep hanging around!"

"I have to admit, Dukey-Boy, this place gives me all kinds of willies," David said. "And that's to put it mildly."

"We should get out of here," Duke agreed. "They don't want to talk."

Lector was badly shaken, more than he ever wanted to admit. But he said, "We should probably check upstairs before the feeling gets worse. We need to figure out why we can't access this place from the second floor."

Yami Bakura headed for the stairs, staying alert for any further spirit activity. Some of the others started to follow him.

"What if somebody gets thrown down the stairs?!" Crump exclaimed.

"So far I don't sense actual physical danger," Atem said. "They're just annoyed."

"One thing's for sure, I don't want you sleeping alone in that room!" Crump said to Gansley. "If there's a cot around here, I'll sleep on it and you can have my bed!"

Gansley didn't want to admit to how disturbed he was, but he said, "If there's a cot, I won't turn down the proposition."

"I'm pretty sure there is a cot," Angelique said. "I think it's on the third floor."

Upstairs, the blocked off space consisted of mostly a narrow hallway with several other bedrooms. After quickly surveying the area, the group returned to the wall and felt across it, looking for any kind of lever or spring.

"You know, I'll bet the secret way in is boarded-up somehow," Joey said. "That way, nobody gets in by accident!"

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised," Lector said.

"Whoever thought that when we were standing in front of The Haunted House, we'd be going home to another one?" Mai remarked.

Joey stared at her. "You don't think this place is like that?!"

"I hope not, but _something_ is obviously wrong," Mai said.

The feeling that they were unwelcome was much stronger now. Finally Crump couldn't stand it any longer. "Make way! We are getting out of here!" he screamed, grabbing Gansley and steering him towards the stairs.

Gansley let himself be steered. "I think Crump has a point!" he yelled over Oreo's increased caterwauling. "Let's all retreat!"

Most of the group thundered down the stairs and desperately ran for the doors. Finally, Yami Bakura gave up as well and followed them out, grabbing Oreo as he went. She didn't protest.

Evangeline slammed the doors shut and locked them. "Well, what do you think now?!" she cried, blinking back tears.

"I think . . . I am never going back in there again!" Joey wailed.

"We're all here, aren't we?" Angelique suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone started. It was a large group, and it would be easy to lose someone, but . . . they hadn't, had they?

". . . Oh my gosh!" Téa shrieked as they desperately counted their number. "Where's Yugi?! And Nesbitt?!"

Horror filled everyone's eyes, and for some, disbelief as well.

"They're still in there?!" Crump bellowed. "That's impossible! I saw Nesbitt running alongside me as we went down the stairs!"

"And I was the last one out and they weren't there!" Yami Bakura insisted.

"Well, they're not here now!" Panic-stricken, Lector grabbed the keys from Evangeline and reopened the doors. "Nesbitt?! Yugi?! Where are you?!"

A weak groan sent him running towards the stairs. Nesbitt was laying motionless at the bottom, Yugi sprawled horizontally across him. As Lector watched in alarm, Yugi pushed himself off of Nesbitt and knelt beside him with wide eyes. "Nesbitt?!" He shook the man without receiving a response.

Lector knelt next to them while others in the group also came in and started to crowd around. "What happened?!" he demanded, feeling Nesbitt's throat for a pulse.

"Did I cause him to fall?!" Crump cried out in anguish. "I know he was coming down the stairs with us! Did I bump into him and make him lose his balance?!"

"No," Yugi sobbed. "Suddenly I was tripping over something that wasn't even there. Nesbitt grabbed for me and he lost his balance. . . ."

"Oh no." Atem drew an arm around Yugi and held him close. So much had gone wrong, so fast. . . .

Johnson stared at the scene, badly shaken and visibly trembling. "Is he . . . ?!"

Lector's hands were shaking as he continued to examine his fallen friend. "He's alive," he reported, "and nothing's broken. We'll have to get him out of here. . . ." He reached down, curling his hands and arms around Nesbitt's body and standing with him in his arms.

"Can you manage?" Gansley asked in concern. While Nesbitt wasn't as tall or as broad as Lector, he was still a big man.

"I can manage," Lector insisted. "I'm not leaving him in here while we go find that cot or whatever else could be used for a stretcher."

No one could offer a protest to that.

"You creeps!" Crump yelled into the wing as they again filed for the doors. "What'd you make the kid trip for?! Now you got Nesbitt hurt trying to save him!"

"They would probably say they gave us ample warning and we refused to heed," Yami Bakura growled.

Evangeline locked the doors for the second time in five minutes. "They're horrible!" she cried, tears coming to her eyes. "And I don't even know who they are. After everything that's happened in the present, I can't honestly say they couldn't be members of this family! Aside from a few good people, I'm starting to think the whole family is a bunch of bad apples!"

"Now, we don't know that they're part of your family," Atem tried to comfort her. "They could be servants or even strangers."

"I doubt it!" Evangeline spat.

"Calm down," Seto said sternly. He took out his cellphone. "I'm going to send for my medical unit. And I'll have them move into this house instead of waiting on the plane."

"Sounds good to me," Joey said. He was also badly shaken by everything that had happened.

Lector headed for the stairs, Nesbitt held firmly in his arms. "I am so sorry, my poor friend," he whispered. "I'm the one who suggested we go upstairs in that cursed place. This wouldn't have happened if not for me."

Mokuba, who had been following near him, stopped and stood on the stairs, blinking in surprise. It had been Seto who had insisted they go in the cursed wing at all, so Mokuba had thought Lector would likely blame him. Instead, Lector wasn't even thinking about that.

"I'm sorry too," Mokuba whispered. "Really sorry. . . ."

Gansley, Crump, and Johnson chased after Lector as he got upstairs and carried Nesbitt into the room he shared with Johnson. One thing was certain—none of them would be able to sleep at all until they knew Nesbitt would be alright.

Lector frowned at the chair under the wardrobe door handles when he entered the room. "What on Earth is that about?!"

"Oh. . . ." Johnson shook his head. In all the commotion, he had completely forgot about telling them of the discovery. "It's a long story. . . ."

Lector was about to lay Nesbitt on the bed when something stopped him. He froze, staring in disbelief at the pillow.

The paper from earlier with the skull and crossbones was now on Nesbitt's bed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

No one knew what to make of the threatening paper being laid on the bed of someone who was now badly hurt. They couldn't even say any longer that a living person had done it. With the house apparently infested with ghosts, it was starting to sound more likely that one of them had decided to leave the paper there to taunt Nesbitt's devastated friends.

"I should have been the one falling down the stairs!" Johnson cried in grief. "This all started because someone was threatening me! They said everyone around me would suffer, and they're starting in with that now!"

"Johnson, calm down!" Gansley sternly told him. "They couldn't have predicted this. Apparently this house has been in this state since at least the 19th Century. You had nothing to do with it!"

Johnson sobbed and sank onto his bed, holding the heels of his hands to his forehead.

"I still don't get why we didn't see or hear him fall!" Crump exclaimed. "We were all right there! We couldn't have been stampeding so bad we drowned out the crash!"

"Maybe the spirits didn't let us hear it or see it," Lector said darkly. "Maybe they made sure we'd leave them locked in there and hoped we wouldn't realize they were missing until it was too late to save them."

"That's sick!" Crump burst out.

"All of this is sick," Lector said. He had carefully laid Nesbitt down once the paper was removed and now was sitting in a chair at the bedside, with no intention of moving until Nesbitt was awake. "And you know something else? Nesbitt would have definitely testified against Raven in court tomorrow because of his involvement in trying to escape the explosion. Unless something changes, he certainly can't now."

"You think he was pushed on purpose to shut him up?!" Crump cried.

"I don't know," Lector said, "but it does make you think, doesn't it?"

"Only why would spirits that have lived in this house for centuries care about that?" Gansley said. "It could be a cruel coincidence."

"All I know for sure is that our dear friend might never wake up because we went in that wing!" Lector suddenly burst out. "And it's my fault we were upstairs!" His voice lowered. "It's all my fault. . . ."

The others jumped. Lector had in common with Nesbitt that he could have sudden bursts of temper and anger, although he didn't tend to commit reckless acts the way Nesbitt did. Now his anger was already fading, revealing the heartbroken man behind it.

Gansley got up and went over to Lector. "It's my fault, really," he retorted. "If I hadn't investigated the strange feeling I woke up with, I wouldn't have learned about the North wing and I wouldn't have encouraged Evangeline to tell everyone about it."

Lector stared at him in disbelief. "But you didn't know," he objected. "You had no idea how it would turn out. . . ."

"And you did?" Gansley countered. "You consciously thought, 'Let's go upstairs so someone can get hurt falling down the stairs when we leave'?"

"Hey, Gansley," Crump said in shock.

Lector shook his head. "Of course not."

Gansley sighed, wearily. "We can point fingers all night and likely find reasons to blame every one of us. But it's not going to help anything." He gripped Lector's shoulder. "This was a tragic accident. None of us could have predicted it."

Lector looked down and finally nodded. He knew Gansley was right.

"And you know too that Nesbitt would never want you to blame yourself," Gansley continued.

"I also know that he would blame himself if the situation were reversed," Lector said.

"I suppose every one of us has a tendency to do that." Gansley walked over to Johnson. "And none of us should do that. It's not needed or necessary."

Johnson looked up at him. "I just feel so helpless! . . ."

"We all do," Gansley said. He paused. "But while we're waiting for the doctor, why don't you tell us about the wardrobe?"

"Oh. Of course." Johnson began the tale, but it was difficult to tell it. Nesbitt had almost been hurt then, but he had grabbed that pipe and saved himself. This time he hadn't been that lucky.

The Big Three were disturbed by the news too.

"The wardrobe has a paper backing and just opens up into nothing?!" Gansley said in disbelief.

"Okay, that is weird," Crump proclaimed. "And what do you wanna bet Evangeline had no idea?!"

"I certainly don't remember anything like that when I was a child," Lector said, "and I liked to play in the wardrobes."

"Well, maybe it's just this one," Crump said. "But that's freaky in any case!"

Everyone concurred.

xxxx

Seto's medical team arrived with state-of-the-art and portable equipment and proceeded to examine Nesbitt as thoroughly or moreso than at a regular hospital. Finally the doctor looked to the worried friends, folding his stethoscope in his hands as he spoke.

"It doesn't look like there's any serious injury, and yet, he should have woke up by now." He frowned.

"What does that mean?" Gansley demanded.

"It means that we can't really know anything unless he wakes up," the doctor replied. "We're going to move in on the ground floor. Let us know the instant there's any change."

"We will," Gansley nodded. "Thank you, Doctor."

Yugi and the others, waiting in the hall, overhead enough of the conversation to know things were serious. "He's hurt because of me," Yugi said sadly.

"It feels really awful, doesn't it?" Mokuba said. "People getting hurt trying to help you. . . . I'm sorry you have to feel what it's like, Yugi. . . ."

"I think everyone feels it at some time or another," Téa said softly. She laid a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "But I'm sure he'll be okay. . . ."

"I just don't understand why those spirits would do something so cruel and then mask our eyes and ears so we couldn't even see and help them," Bakura exclaimed.

Yami Bakura didn't speak, but kept petting Oreo and looking away. He had never apologized to Nesbitt for snapping at him when they had been trapped in the Shadow Game based around _Bendy and the Ink Machine_. And Yugi, of course, had been one of his greatest enemies in the past. Although he said nothing out loud, he wondered if Nesbitt would think that he had ignored him and Yugi on purpose when he had ran past them to leave the wing. He honestly hadn't seen them, just as no one else had either.

"At least we realized they were missing as soon as we got out of there," Atem said.

"But what if he doesn't ever wake up?" Yugi said sorrowfully.

". . . Then his friends will never get over it," Yami Bakura growled. "And you probably won't either."

Yugi looked away, unable to deny that.

Mokuba bit his lip. Once the doctors were out of the room and moving towards the stairs, he ran into the bedroom and over to Lector, who was hunched forward with his clasped hands in front of him. "Lector?" He looked up at his friend. "I'm really sorry. . . ."

Lector straightened, trying to smile. "Nesbitt's a fighter. He won't go down easy."

Mokuba hugged him. "I know you're still worried, though." He looked around the room. "All of you guys are worried. . . ."

"Yes," Gansley said.

Lector drew an arm around Mokuba. "I'm glad that you and the others weren't hurt as well," he said. "But anyone being hurt is too much."

"Especially someone you love so much," Mokuba said.

Lector couldn't deny that.

Nesbitt stirred, groaning under his breath.

"Nesbitt?!" Lector perked up, looking to him. "Are you alright?"

Nesbitt opened his eyes and gave Lector a puzzled look.

"Nesbitt?!" Gansley leaned over, not liking that look. "Do you know us?"

"Of course I know you," Nesbitt grunted.

"And me?!" Crump came over now.

"I hope you remember me," Johnson said, trying to pull himself together and use some of his smooth facade.

"I know all of you. What is this?" Nesbitt started to get up, but winced and laid back down. "Ugh. . . ."

"You fell down the stairs protecting Yugi," Lector said.

"And not just any stairs, but the creepy stairs!" Crump added.

"I remember," Nesbitt said.

"I'll get the doctor," Mokuba volunteered, not wanting any of them to have to leave Nesbitt to find him.

"Thank you, Mokuba," Lector said to him. He looked back to Nesbitt. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"You're a mother hen," Nesbitt snorted. "I'm fine." He hesitated. "But . . . who are you, anyway?"

Lector was thunderstruck. "What?!"

"Nesbitt, you said you remembered us!" Gansley exclaimed.

"I do. Gansley, Crump, and Johnson. But I don't remember him." Nesbitt looked to Lector, who fell back in horror.

"How could someone have such selective amnesia as this?!" Gansley said in disbelief.

In the doorway, Atem paled. "Oh no. It's like what happened to Mai at the hands of Yami Marik. Lector has apparently been erased from Nesbitt's mind!"

Johnson went sheet-white too. "It's some kind of dark magic?!"

Lector couldn't take it. He ran out of the room, grabbing the keys out of Evangeline's pocket as he tore to the stairs.

"Démas?!" Evangeline stared at him.

Lector didn't answer her. He ran down the stairs and over to the closed wing, fumbling with the keys several times before at last getting them to work. "What is this?!" he screamed as he flung the doors wide. "It wasn't enough that you hurt my friend by making him fall?! You hurt him by making him forget me too?! I demand to know who you are and why you would be so sadistic! We didn't do anything to you!" He clenched his fists, shaking. The fire had left his voice when he spoke again. "I can't lose him. . . . I can't. . . ."

Mai, who had followed him down along with the rest of the group, looked from him to Atem in horror. "What's going on?! Why would these ghosts do something like this?!"

"I'm starting to fear that it truly was to keep Nesbitt from testifying," Atem said. "He can't participate in either trial in this condition. But maybe it was also to make Lector suffer. And then Johnson will suffer in turn. It's a cruel game of dominoes. What happens to one happens to all."

"Dr. Raven must have done it then," Mai said. "Who else could have?!"

"Our family." Evangeline had come up from behind Mai, her voice dark. "Everyone but our father and Démas practices _vodun_ to some extent. Maybe one of them decided to corrupt it and use it to hurt instead of to help."

"But why?!" Serenity cried.

"They don't want Father to be convicted," Evangeline said, "so they're willing to do anything, even enlist the help of these unfriendly spirits and make Démas suffer by taking away one of his precious friends." She stormed to the door. "This is the last straw. I'm going to confront all of them right now!"

"It's the middle of the night," Angelique gasped.

"I don't care!" Evangeline flung the front door wide, similar to how Lector had thrown open the North wing doors. She ran outside with a purpose, hardly caring that she was in her nightgown as she leaped in her car and drove off.

"Lector?" Johnson had come down now too and was standing by the North wing. His facade was gone again and his eyes and voice were filled with worry. "You'd better come out of there before they hurt you too. . . ."

Defeated, Lector finally turned and came out from the wing when he realized there would be no answers. "They've already hurt me," he said as he closed and locked the doors.

"I'm so sorry," Johnson said in anguish. "Whoever's stalking me must have done this. . . ."

"Right now, I don't think Evangeline is so far off the mark that it might be someone in our family doing it," Lector said. "They have motive, means, and opportunity. I doubt whoever is stalking you knows this kind of dark magic."

"We don't know who it is, so who can say?" Johnson sighed.

Everyone headed back up the stairs, dejected and bewildered. The doctor met them in the hall after examining Nesbitt. "I don't know how to explain this," he frowned. "Is there any psychological reason why Mr. Nesbitt would want to forget you?" He looked to Lector.

"Of course not!" Lector snapped. "This isn't his fault!"

"I don't think it is," Seto growled.

The doctor stared at him. "Then, Mr. Kaiba, does that mean you think there's a . . . supernatural reason for this?"

"I don't know," Seto admitted. "But I know Nesbitt would never want to forget Lector, consciously or unconsciously."

Gansley came to the doorway now. "Lector? He's asking for you."

Lector looked over with a start, but from Gansley's eyes Nesbitt still didn't remember. With a heavy heart Lector went back in the room, Johnson trailing after him.

Nesbitt was still laying in the bed, looking miserable. He gestured for Lector to come closer. "Gansley and the others are telling me you're one of us," he said uncomfortably.

"Yes, that's right," Lector said. He was barely keeping his emotions in check. To see Nesbitt looking at him so blankly and talking to him like he was a stranger was almost more than he could bear. "Don't you remember anything at all? We're the Big Five. . . ."

"Four," Nesbitt interjected. "The Big Four. . . ."

Lector's expression shattered. Crump got up, drawing an arm around his shoulders. "Oh Buddy. . . ."

"Nesbitt, don't you feel anything when you look at him?" Gansley asked. "Why did you call him here?"

Nesbitt looked away, uncomfortable. "Well . . . he was so worried about me . . . and you say he's one of us . . . and he says he's one of us . . . and I don't remember him, and yet . . . it feels . . . right for him to be here. That doesn't seem logical, but I can't deny it."

Lector slowly looked up. "Then you remember something," he said, a bit of hope finally coming back to his voice.

"Yes . . . I suppose so," Nesbitt said. "I trust Gansley, Crump, and Johnson, so if they say you're supposed to be here, it must be true. . . . Unless they're the ones remembering things wrong, instead of me. . . ."

"No!" Lector cried, desperate not to lose the smidgen of hope. "They're not! Please, if you can't believe me, believe them! Please believe them. . . ." His shoulders slumped and he stepped back, defeated. He just wanted to get away, to run as far away from this nightmare as possible, and then to wake up and find it really was just a nightmare and not real. . . .

"Alright, alright!" Nesbitt exclaimed. He sighed and looked away. "I'm . . . honestly sorry I don't remember you. You were so worried about me, it seems a cruel slap in the face to do this to you."

"It certainly does," Lector couldn't refrain from saying. But he quickly added, "It's not your fault, though. I know you never wanted this, and I know you'll feel horrible when you remember the truth. You're as much a victim here as I am."

"That's a generous way to put it," Nesbitt said. ". . . But if someone really did this to me on purpose, why?!" His eyes flashed with a bit of the old familiar fire.

"To torture both of us," Lector said.

"And maybe to keep you from testifying in a couple of high-level court cases," Johnson added. "You won't be able to now; we'll have to notify the judge and the district attorney in the morning and have the doctor verify our words."

Nesbitt frowned. "If I don't testify, does that mean the people will walk?"

"I hope not," Johnson sighed.

Lector abruptly looked to him with a jerk. "That's right; Evangeline went out to confront our family!" he exclaimed. "I heard it in the back of my mind, but I wasn't really processing it."

"You don't think they'd hurt her, do you?!" Crump gasped.

"I don't know!" Lector ran out of the room. "I'd better call her right now!"

"She might not have her phone with her," Crump called after him. "She went running out in her nightgown!"

Lector froze in the hall. "Then I had better go after her," he said.

"You can't go alone," Gansley objected. "You're too upset to drive! I'll come with you."

Lector didn't deny it or forbid him.

Nesbitt sighed as they hurried off. ". . . What is he like?" he asked Crump and Johnson, feeling awkward. "Do we get along? Are we close?"

"You guys are a couple of hotheads," Crump said. "No, you don't always get along. But . . . you couldn't be closer."

Nesbitt looked away. ". . . I wish I remembered."

"You will," Crump insisted. "You've gotta!"

Johnson couldn't bring himself to speak. He turned away instead. "Why?" he whispered. "If I'm the real target, why are you going after the others? Just come after me! I can't stand seeing everyone else suffering when you really want me!"

And yet he knew that this was the most effective way of tormenting someone—harming their loved ones rather than them. He was drawing very close to his own breaking point by now, but he forced himself not to shatter. He had to get back to his old self, the smooth, obnoxious self. Everyone had too much to deal with as it was; they couldn't have to deal with him losing control now too.

In the hall, Yugi was still standing close enough to overhear all that was going on. "I still feel responsible," he said in chagrin. "I just wish there was something I could do!"

"If we could find out who did this to him and how they did it, we'd have a better chance of reversing it," Atem said. "I feel a certain amount of responsibility too." He clenched a fist. "I encouraged us to go upstairs even after Crump worried that someone might deliberately get thrown down the stairs! You were almost hurt. It's only because of Nesbitt that you're alright, and he and Lector both paid a great price. So did you, Yugi, as I know you feel horrible even though you were not at fault. Somehow we have to find a way to fix this!"

"Well, Lector and Evangeline and Gansley are going to confront the family," Yugi said slowly, "but whatever happened must have happened because the ghosts here agreed to help whoever wanted to do this. If we could only make contact with them! . . ."

"Unfortunately, they have made it clear that they do not want to talk," Atem said. "I think our best bet is to focus on the more benign ghost who walks the halls and looks in the trunk. She might be willing to talk to us, and she might be able to tell us what's going on."

"You don't think she's the voyeur, do you?" Yugi asked uneasily.

"I don't know," Atem sighed. He looked to the third floor stairs. "And Angelique and her group are certainly taking a long time finding that cot. . . ."

"Evangeline said that there were weird feelings up there too," Yugi remembered. "Maybe we should go help. . . ."

"She also said it only happened if she was alone," Atem said. "Yugi, I'm going to stand out here for a while and see if I start feeling the sensation of being watched. Why don't you go upstairs and see what's happening with Angelique's group?"

"Well, okay," Yugi said slowly. "If you're sure. . . ."

"I'm sure," Atem said firmly. "We must do whatever we can to reach a solution without anyone else being hurt!"

Yugi thoroughly agreed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The third floor was a mixture of bedrooms, another kitchen, and assorted storage and other rooms. Unlike the other floors, the rooms other than the bedrooms and bathroom were mostly open, without doors to give them privacy. There was definitely a cot somewhere up there, but so far Angelique and her group had not been able to find it.

"This is just freaky!" Joey cried, jumping out of the way as a loosened wooden beam taken off of a bunk bed fell across his path. "There's no cot in here!"

"So we'll try the next room," Tristan said. "I remember seeing it, but for some reason I just can't remember where!"

"Maybe those ghosts are messing with all of our minds now!" Joey wildly messed up his hair.

"I haven't felt anything while we've been up here," Tristan said.

"I feel something," Ishizu said quietly, "but it's just a presence quietly watching us. It isn't anything like what we felt in the North wing."

"Whatever's there has to be evil," Téa shuddered. "Trying to push Yugi and somehow making Nesbitt forget one specific person?!"

"That's so awful for both him and Mr. Lector," Serenity said softly. "I wish there was something more we could do. . . ."

"Finding that cot is important," Marik said. "I don't think Gansley should be alone in his room, and by now, I don't think he thinks he should be alone either. And they're going to have to get some sleep." He stood in the middle of what had once been a play room, his hands on his hips as he surveyed the toys from various years past scattered on the floor around him.

"What is it with all of this stuff anyway?" Joey wondered.

"Evangeline said she used to play here as a little girl," Angelique said. "She wants to fix it all up again and let Gabriel come over to play, but we haven't got that far yet."

"So who messed it all up?" Joey frowned. "I mean, if Evangeline was the last kid to use the place and then her great-grandma died and it was vacant . . ."

"We've been so caught up in the supernatural aspects of this mystery that we've completely forgotten that someone very much alive is also involved," Ishizu said. "I wonder if the living person was looking for something as well."

"Maybe that's what's even got the ghosts so riled up," Tristan suggested. "Maybe the living person is a creep and now the ghosts don't trust any other living people either."

"That still doesn't give them the right to do what they did to Yugi and Nesbitt," Téa retorted.

"Of course not!" Tristan said. "I'm just saying."

"And something else I'm wondering," Joey suddenly said. "What about the grandma? I mean, we've got all these 'greats,' but we haven't heard word one about the grandma. . . ."

"Maybe she died young?" Mai suggested.

". . . You know, I'm not sure," Angelique realized. "I don't remember Evangeline ever talking about her grandmother."

"That's kind of weird," Téa said. "I mean, when we know about all these other family members, it's weird."

"Hey, guys!" Yugi suddenly called. He ran over to them.

"Yugi!" Tristan said in surprise. "What's going on?"

"I came to help you look for the cot," Yugi said.

"We can sure use some more help," Joey frowned. "You don't remember where it was, do you, Yug?"

"Not really," Yugi sighed.

"Is there any news from downstairs?" Téa asked.

"Well, Nesbitt's treating Lector nice even though he doesn't remember, so there's that," Yugi said. "Lector left now to go after Evangeline, and Gansley went with him. . . . Atem's waiting for the second floor ghost to show up. . . ."

"There is a ghost here," Ishizu said, "but it seems to just be watching us and has no desire to interfere or show itself."

"Okay. I guess we just have to keep looking," Yugi said slowly. "None of the Big Five feel like sleeping any time soon, but sooner or later they'll have to."

"Right," Joey nodded. "There can't be many more rooms to search!"

"Unless we're all remembering wrong and it's actually in the attic or the basement," Angelique said.

"Man, I don't wanna go in the attic _or_ the basement," Joey groaned. "Those kinds of places are ghost centrals!"

"They can't be worse than the North wing," Mai retorted.

". . . Good point," Joey sighed.

xxxx

The lights were on at the Leichter family mansion, and considering the hour, Lector didn't know whether to think that was good or bad. But Evangeline's car was in the driveway, so she had apparently arrived first and got in. He and Gansley hurried out and up to the porch.

Evangeline thrust the door open before they could knock. "It was Marie!" she cried, not surprised at all to see them. "Marie did it!"

Lector rocked back. "What?!"

Gansley laid a hand on his shoulder. "What, specifically, did she do?" he frowned.

Marie was kneeling on the stairs, oddly sobbing. "I just wanted to keep Father from going to prison," she said. "I thought maybe I could erase someone's memories of what happened with him so their testimony wouldn't work and maybe the jury would vote in favor of Father. But something went wrong. I didn't mean to make Démas's friend forget him! I swear I didn't mean to do that!"

"She went upstairs and tried to do some corrupted voodoo!" Evangeline screamed, pointing at her. "She did it like in the movies—the doll, the pin, the whole bit!"

"And right when she stabbed the pin, Nesbitt was trying to save Yugi and he fell down the stairs," Lector realized. He frowned. "I don't know that I believe corrupted voodoo caused this, but it's just as outlandish as the idea that the restless spirits in the house caused it."

Marie stiffened. "You went in the North wing?!"

"That's where it happened," Lector said. "Do you know something about it?"

Marie looked away. "I know it's not a good place. I don't know who's in there or why they won't go or why they hate visitors. No one really knows, unless maybe Grandmother . . ."

"Marie!" Mrs. Leichter cut in as she appeared from the den. "We don't talk about Grandmother. You know we can't burden her with any of this talk about the North wing."

Marie gripped the banister. "But I've done something really horrible, Mother. I need to find a way to fix it. Maybe Grandmother could help!"

"I forbid you to tell her about this!" Mrs. Leichter snapped.

". . . Suppose Marie actually did cause what went wrong," Gansley said, although even considering the notion left a very bad taste in his mouth. "How would it be fixed?"

"I don't know!" Marie wailed. "I don't even know how it happened!"

"That's why you don't go corrupting _vodun_ like that!" Evangeline yelled. "It always backfires! Corrupting it brings out all kinds of evil!"

Lector rubbed his forehead. "I wonder if we had just better go back and pray to God for Nesbitt to recover. I'm tired of _vodun_, and magic, and all of this nonsense." He turned away. "But praying doesn't always help either. I feel so _helpless . . . !_"

Gansley sighed. "I think we should go. Including you, Evangeline."

". . . Yes, I guess so." Evangeline stormed past her mother and Marie and headed for the door. "We're not going to find any help or solutions here."

"Or any kindness and sympathy," Gansley growled at Mrs. Leichter. "You didn't want your husband to do what he did to your son. Why do you persist in treating your son as though he's in the wrong?"

Mrs. Leichter looked away.

"She can't be loyal to both, so she'll always choose Father, no matter how wrong Father is," Evangeline spat. She threw open the door and stormed down the stairs.

"Goodnight," Gansley snapped when Mrs. Leichter didn't counter the statement. He headed out as well, firmly steering Lector out with him.

"They make me so mad I could just spit!" Evangeline fumed.

"What is the deal with your grandmother?" Gansley asked.

"She's in a nursing home," Lector sighed. "Her mind . . . isn't what it used to be. She thinks she's a child."

"I see." Gansley sighed too. "I'm sorry." That sounded like a terrible fate to him. He hoped that his mind would always remain sharp, no matter how long he lived. He also hoped he still had a lot of years left.

Lector nodded wearily. "Let's just go back. I can't stand to be here any longer. . . ."

Evangeline gave a firm nod. "And I'm going to think about calling an exorcist," she said bitterly. "I want whatever's in the North wing out!"

"No more thinking they belong there too?" Gansley said.

"Once they started hurting people, they lost their right to belong there," Evangeline said. "I won't have them in my house!" She opened the door of her car and threw herself inside.

Gansley and Lector got into their car as well and drove out, then waited for Evangeline to leave and followed behind her.

"What do you think happened, Lector?" Gansley asked. "Doesn't voodoo only work if the person believes in it? I highly doubt Nesbitt does."

"What's more, I doubt it would work if the person has no knowledge that it's going to be used on them," Lector said. "I don't really believe in its magical properties at all. I believe that if it works, it's only through mental and emotional properties and the power of suggestion."

"That makes sense to me," Gansley said.

"I honestly don't know what happened," Lector continued. "I'd be more inclined to believe the spirits hurt him, when they were right there. Or . . ." He hesitated. "The Pharaoh said it was like something that Yami Marik did in the past. What if he's responsible again?"

"Unfortunately, that sounds logical to me," Gansley frowned.

"But how do we fix it?!" Lector suddenly cried. "This isn't a Shadow Game! There's no magical way to beat the game and put everything back to normal! This is reality!"

Gansley certainly had no answers. But after pondering for a long moment he said, "I've been a man of logic and reality for many years, as you well know. I never would have dreamed of any workable solutions that didn't involve one or the other or both. However, we've all discovered recently that some things completely challenge logic and realism at every turn, and work."

"You mean friendship and love," Lector said.

"Yes. Look at Nesbitt. Even after what was done to him, part of him still remembers you deep down. This isn't like realistic amnesia, which often can't be recovered from." Gansley sighed. "Perhaps the only way to save Nesbitt is to focus on what he remembers. Just be who you've always been and maybe in time, that will get through to him. . . . And if you want to pray that it will work, I doubt that will hurt."

Lector bowed his head. "I suppose you're right."

". . . And truthfully, I believe he _will_ remember," Gansley added. "You mean too much to him for him to forget you for long."

"Thank you," Lector said quietly. He shook his head. "It's strange, how close we've become. I didn't care much for him when he started working at KaibaCorp, and I know he felt the same about me. Now, to think we mean so much to each other. . . ."

Gansley smiled a bit. "Getting to know someone can have that effect."

". . . Nesbitt will have to get to know me all over again," Lector frowned. "I really don't care to have to repeat how things were for us at first."

"It won't be the same as that," Gansley said. "When you first met, you were his boss. Once you were on equal ground as part of the Big Five, you were each able to see each other differently than before."

"That's true," Lector said.

"And he feels that you're important deep down," Gansley said. "Not to mention he trusts the words of those he does remember. It's going to be alright."

Lector nodded. "I hope I can believe it as strongly as you do."

Gansley hoped so too. But most of all, he hoped he was right.

xxxx

Nesbitt was asleep and the cot had been found by the time they returned. It had been half-buried under assorted pieces of wood meant to be used for renovating the third floor kitchen. But what disturbed everyone was that it had definitely not been there yesterday. Had the living placed it there . . . or the dead?

Gansley was too tired and disgusted to even care about the new mystery. "I'm going to bed," he announced. "You had better sleep too, Lector."

"Somebody should watch over Nesbitt," Lector frowned. "Just to make sure he's physically alright. . . ." _And to make sure no one tries to do anything else to him._

"We'll take turns," Gansley said.

"I'll take the first watch," Johnson said softly. "Or I'll just watch with him all night; we are sharing the room. . . ."

"You need to sleep too," Gansley frowned.

"I'll wake up and take the second shift in a few hours," Crump said. "And what are we gonna do about court?!"

"That will be up to the judge and the district attorney," Johnson said. "They can decide whether Nesbitt's testimony is vital enough to postpone the rest of the trial until he's better. . . . If he gets better," he added.

The others were reluctant to leave the room, but eventually they did, leaving Johnson the only one awake. "We're right next-door," Crump told him, even though of course he knew. "Bang on the wall or something if you need us."

Johnson managed a smile. Banging on the wall likely wouldn't wake Gansley. But he supposed it would wake the others. And he did feel better knowing Gansley wasn't alone now.

He stiffened. Would the ghost start watching him, since Nesbitt was asleep and he would be technically alone?

He didn't want to think about that. He got up, walking to the window. Eerily enough, he could see the pool from here; the moon was shining on its surface in the distance. Was there really a siren out there that preyed on people's weaknesses? If there was, what would his weakness be, he wondered. His love for the others? He would have considered that a weakness once, but not anymore.

Maybe his weakness was his inability to stop blaming himself and feeling like he should be the one suffering. He should be, though, he frowned. He had been worse than any of the others, or so he believed.

He walked back to the bed and sat down, looking at Nesbitt without fully seeing him. _Oh God, this is killing Lector,_ he prayed in his heart. _Please don't make him or Nesbitt suffer like this. They've been through enough. Please. . . ._

He sighed sadly and sank back. Daring to pray, after all he'd done and didn't know how to repair. . . .

His gaze fell on the Bible that had been placed on the nightstand between the beds, probably by Evangeline. How many times had he watched his witnesses be sworn in on the Bible and then proceed to tell whatever he had wanted them to say? He had found countless ways of twisting the truth and making it work for him and his clients. He had thought they were in the right, that he was justified and doing his job. . . . Or had he only told himself that? Had he really known he wasn't justified?

He fell back on the bed. Why had Lector ever liked him? He still didn't know, but he was grateful to have such a true friend. He knew Nesbitt was too. When the memories all flooded back—_if_ they flooded back—he would be devastated. He had already been hurting enough being reminded of what he had done to Lector under Yami Marik's control. Right now those memories and feelings were gone, but when they returned, coupled with the knowledge that he had been made to forget Lector and only Lector . . . Johnson couldn't bear to think what the reaction would be.

xxxx

No matter how Mokuba tried, sleep would not come. He tossed and turned. He even read a little bit on his phone. Sometimes that made him sleepy, but not tonight.

He looked to Seto. He seemed to have dozed, and Mokuba certainly didn't want to disturb him. He overworked himself so much that he often didn't get nearly enough sleep. They had talked for a while, Seto knowing Mokuba was distraught over the night's events, but Mokuba still wanted to talk, or better yet, _do_ something.

He threw the covers over his head and texted Marik.

_Hey. Are you awake?_

He made sure the volume was completely off as he waited for a reply. Seto was a light sleeper, and even the ding of a new text on the lowest volume could wake him up.

_I'm afraid so._

Mokuba perked up at the reply.

_I can't just lay here. I want to help fix this! Any ideas?_

He knew Marik wouldn't advocate doing anything dangerous, but he still hoped his friend would be willing to try something, anything.

_I don't know. I've been trying to think myself. The Pharaoh is still awake_

_trying to contact the second floor ghosts, I think, so I don't know what else_

_we could try that wouldn't be dangerous._

Mokuba frowned, pondering on the problem. Then his eyes sparkled with an idea.

_Why don't we try the third floor? You said Ishizu felt a ghost up there. And_

_it just seemed to be watching too, so it's probably not dangerous._

Marik was silent so long now that Mokuba just about gave up on a response. But finally the screen changed with a new message.

_I think Yugi's on the third floor all alone, hoping it will come out if he's_

_by himself. But I'll tell you what. Why don't we try the basement?_

Mokuba blinked in surprise.

_Are you sure, Marik? I know you don't like basements, or anything underground._

The reply came quickly.

_I don't, but I have to admit, when we were down there, I felt something. I thought_

_it was just my dislike of basements, but I'm not so sure now. It didn't feel dangerous,_

_just . . . curious, maybe?_

Mokuba felt a shiver in spite of himself. He didn't like ghosts in general. But he wanted so badly to help Lector and Nesbitt. . . .

_Okay! Let's do it. I'll meet you in the hall._

He put his phone in his pocket and quietly got out of bed. If Seto woke up and found he was up, he would immediately call or text, so Mokuba wanted to be sure to keep the device with him. He tiptoed to the door and unlocked it as noiselessly as he could.

Seto rolled over. Mokuba froze. But when Seto didn't move again, the boy sighed in relief and slipped into the hall.

_Sorry, Seto,_ he thought to himself as he hurried over to Marik. _This is something I've just got to do._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Atem wasn't in sight as the two friends met in the second floor hall. "I wonder where he is," Mokuba whispered.

"I think he's trying the bathroom, since the ghost was felt very strongly in there," Marik whispered back.

They slipped down the stairs. The door to the basement was in the kitchen, and they were both surprised to see the light on in there. But they shrugged it off. Lights were on all over the house; everyone had been too upset or too spooked to turn them off.

The kitchen was occupied, however. Yami Bakura was sitting at the table, munching on a chicken leg as they entered. "What are you two doing up?" he grunted.

"Investigating," Marik said flatly. "I see you're helping the case along."

Yami Bakura shrugged. "How do you know I'm not watching to see if someone comes through the secret passage that we can't seem to open from this side?"

". . . You could be, I guess," Mokuba said. "Where's Bakura?"

"He'll be along soon." Yami Bakura quirked an eyebrow. "You realize, by coming down here 'investigating,' you've left your brothers all alone upstairs?"

Mokuba flinched, while Marik looked a bit guilty. But at last he said, "At least the only malevolent ghosts seem to be in the North wing. I don't think either Rishid or Seto would be scared by a ghost that silently watches. Anyway, the Pharaoh is staying up trying to draw it out."

"Then suit yourselves." Yami Bakura leaned back. "Where, exactly, are you planning on investigating?"

"The basement," Marik said.

Yami Bakura grunted. "You know, it's obvious these spirits aren't going to communicate with anyone. Your best bet would probably be a Ouija board."

"No, thank you," Marik retorted. "Who knows what other evil spirits might decide to come play with us if we did that!"

"If something goes wrong and we yell or something, you'll come help us, won't you?" Mokuba asked.

Yami Bakura smirked. "I suppose you'll just have to wait and find out."

Marik rolled his eyes. "If you're not too busy sucking all the blood out of that drumstick, I'm sure you will." He opened the door to the basement and switched on the light for the stairs. "Let's go, Mokuba."

Mokuba waited until they were out of earshot before speaking again. "You guys really don't get along very well."

"We've never liked each other that much," Marik admitted. "But we're allies now. And I know that in spite of his love of teasing, he will indeed come if there's trouble." He lowered his voice. "Don't tell him, but I'm rather relieved he's up and so close to the basement."

Mokuba giggled. "I kind of am too."

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Marik turned on the next lights. The laundry room was to their right. Like the third floor rooms, it was mostly open space, with an archway doorway and two thin, bare pipes that almost looked aesthetically placed as they created a pathway from the laundry room to the wide open space that served as what could be a nice family room. Beyond that was another bathroom and more bedrooms.

Mokuba shivered. "Well . . . what do you think? Do you feel it?"

Marik hesitated. ". . . I think so." He took Mokuba's hand and advanced into the large room. There were couches here and there and a huge television, in between boxes of unknown items and some more messes with old wooden beams scattered on the floor.

"So what do we do?" Mokuba swallowed hard. He knew he wouldn't be brave enough to come down here alone.

Marik kept walking. "Hello?" he called. "We don't mean any harm. We only want to know if you know what happened to our friend Mr. Nesbitt, and how to reverse it."

The feeling of something there persisted and increased as they threaded their way around the furniture and to the strange, half-size door at the back of the room. Marik reached and pushed it open, then ducked down to look inside.

"It's kind of a cool idea, having a kid's room with a door that fits kids," Mokuba said. "Only problem is, they'll grow out of it unless they stay short all their life."

Marik stayed bent over to go through the door with Mokuba, then straightened. The room beyond had a normal ceiling, thank goodness. It was a pleasant place, with stuffed animals everywhere and old and creaking bookcases filled with popular children's book series such as _Nancy Drew _and _The Hardy Boys_. If not for the bed, it might be mistaken as another general play room.

"I wonder whose room this was," Mokuba mused. "And if they're still alive. . . ." He picked up a plush penguin, then quickly set it down. The presence probably wouldn't like them touching things, and they needed it to stay on their side. Or get it on their side, if it wasn't yet.

"Hopefully," Marik said. "Maybe we should ask Evangeline or Lector for a family tree."

"That might be a good idea." Mokuba walked over to one of the bookcases. "This is neat. I'd totally read some of this stuff." He sighed. "But we're not getting anywhere."

"I don't feel that presence in here, either," Marik realized. "It stays out in the main part."

"Well, I guess that proves we're not imagining things," Mokuba said. "But I don't know whether that's good or bad."

"Me either." Marik sighed too. "We'd better go. There might be some clues in the original parts of the basement, the storage areas."

"Right." Mokuba wasn't thrilled with leaving the cozy room and venturing again into the unknown, but it had to be done. He grabbed Marik's hand again as they stepped out.

The feeling persisted as they walked back the other way and passed the stairs. Beyond them and the laundry room was the original part of the basement, the food and wine cellars. There was no longer wine, but there were some canned and powdered goods on some of the shelves and a hammock randomly stretched from one side of the wall to the other.

"Evangeline said something about the family wanting to turn this place into a bomb shelter, but the place got closed up before they could really do much," Mokuba said.

"Let's just hope our unwanted guest hasn't been using the hammock," Marik said.

Mokuba suddenly stiffened. "Um, Marik?" His gaze was riveted on the object.

Marik gave it a closer look and quickly realized what Mokuba had seen. It was slowly moving back and forth, as if it had either just been abandoned . . . or if something unseen was still using it.

". . . Who are you?" he demanded.

No response, but it kept swinging. Back and forth, back and forth . . . far past the time it would have stopped if someone had recently climbed out of it.

Mokuba finally couldn't take it. He screamed, turning and running back the other direction. Marik chased after him.

They both nearly bumped into Yami Bakura, who had come down the stairs and was standing with his hands on his hips, staring at them. "What on Earth is going on?!" he demanded.

"Hammock malfunction," Marik gasped, trying to catch his breath.

"The kind that's caused by a ghost!" Mokuba squealed.

"Bah!" Yami Bakura strode past them and over to the offending object. "Well, what do you want?" he asked. "To be left alone? We would be perfectly happy to oblige, if you would merely answer some questions for us."

The hammock rocked faster. Finally, annoyed, Yami Bakura reached and grabbed it. "What part of answering questions are you unwilling to understand?"

The hammock flipped over.

"Now you've probably got it mad," Mokuba gulped.

"Well, I'm not feeling so great myself right now!" Yami Bakura snarled. The Infinity Ring started to glow as he addressed the ghost. "You're being completely unreasonable. Ring, shine your light on this spirit and allow us to see it!"

The Ring glowed, picking up the silhouette of a man on his hands and knees.

Mokuba jumped back with a yelp.

"Why didn't you try this before?" Marik asked, stepping in front of Mokuba to shield him.

"Why don't you worry more about talking to the spirit than to me?" Yami Bakura snapped. He actually hadn't even thought of that as a possible power of the Ring before, but he hardly wanted to admit it to Marik.

Marik growled and looked to the silhouette. "Why won't you talk to us?" he demanded.

Instead of standing up or answering at all, it phased through the floor and disappeared.

Mokuba cautiously peered out from around Marik. "None of these ghosts want to talk," he said in bewilderment.

"And I didn't sense any fear," Yami Bakura said. "One could think the spirits in the North wing have the other spectres afraid, but I doubt that now. That spirit just stubbornly refused to talk for no reason!" He swore in Egyptian.

Marik turned away in disgust. "Let's just go back upstairs," he said. "I imagine Yugi and the Pharaoh are having the same non-luck."

"Probably," Yami Bakura growled.

xxxx

Lector hadn't thought he would ever get to sleep. But sleep crept up on him anyway, and he found himself standing in a strange area that was dark purple on every side.

"Hello?" he called, looking around. It wasn't as dark as the Shadow Realm, but it brought that cold place to mind anyway. Lector really wanted to leave.

Nesbitt soon came out of the darkness and stood in front of him. "Lector. . . ."

Lector stared at him. "You remember me?" he cried. "Oh . . . this is a dream. Of course you would remember here. You're not real."

"I _am_ real!" Nesbitt insisted. He grabbed Lector's shoulders. "The real me, my spirit, still remembers you. It's only my body's memory that's been damaged." He looked away. "I'm sorry for that."

Lector stared at him. "You're real? I didn't conjure you up?"

"This is the only way I could communicate with you right now," Nesbitt said. He looked back. "Don't give up on me! I'll make my body remember you too, but I'll need your help."

"I'll never give up on you," Lector vowed. He pulled Nesbitt close. "My dear friend. . . . I miss you so much. . . ."

Nesbitt gruffly returned the gesture. "Please forgive me for forgetting you. . . ." His voice cracked. "I never wanted to. . . ."

"It wasn't your fault," Lector insisted. "Never!"

The dream was all too cruelly short. Lector snapped awake, laying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. On the other bed, Gansley was deeply asleep and hugging the pillow, while Crump was flopped on the cot and snoring loudly.

Lector sighed and rolled over to face the door. The dream had been so real. Was it really, or had Lector still imagined it? He didn't want to believe that. Why couldn't Nesbitt's spirit reach out to him in a dream? Especially in this place that seemed to be such a threshold of the beyond?

He sat up. Would Nesbitt still remember any of that dream while awake? It was unlikely, he supposed. Whatever spell was making him forget Lector would likely also block his memories of the dream. But regardless, he didn't think he would go back to sleep for a while and he wanted to put Gansley's and Nesbitt's suggestion to work right away. He wasn't sure how long Johnson had been keeping vigil over Nesbitt, but he wanted to take over now.

Moving as quietly as possible, he opened the door and slipped into the hall. It was quiet, save for Atem standing at the other end. Lector ducked into the room next to his.

Johnson was sitting up on the bed, looking tense and worried. He jumped when Lector walked in. "Oh . . . I thought Crump was taking the next shift," he stammered.

"I'm taking it," Lector said firmly. "Go ahead and go in the other room to sleep. I'm kind of hoping Nesbitt will wake up and we can talk."

Johnson slowly nodded. "Alright." He stood. "Good luck."

Lector hesitated. Should he tell Johnson about Nesbitt reaching out to him in his dream? There was a time when Johnson would have scoffed at such a supernatural thing. For that matter, so would Lector. But now he felt that it had really happened and had not been just a product of his imagination. Still, maybe he would rather keep it to himself for now, at least until he talked with Nesbitt in the waking world.

"Thank you," he said instead.

Johnson quickly slipped out.

Lector wasn't sure how long he just sat there, watching Nesbitt sleep. They had known each other for so long . . . so many years . . . and yet, when it felt like he had lost his old friend, it didn't seem very long at all—especially since for some of the time they had known each other, they hadn't really liked each other.

"Wasted years," he said softly. "I wish I had understood you from the start."

Not that he always understood Nesbitt now; far from it. The other man's reckless and impulsive behavior still frustrated him to no end. But he understood that Nesbitt wasn't all tough muscle and love of machines. He was actually a deeply sensitive person who couldn't handle harm coming to his friends and loved far greater than anyone had realized, including Lector or even Nesbitt himself.

Nesbitt stirred, starting to turn over in the bed. His eyes opened halfway. "Oh . . . it's you," he mumbled.

Lector couldn't stop the twinge of hurt. "Do you mind?" he asked.

"No . . . not really. Well, it's awkward when I don't remember you, but when you've been so worried about me, I'm . . . glad for you to be here. I can't explain how I know; it doesn't sound logical at all, but I know you'd do anything to protect me. And I have the odd feeling that I feel the same about you . . . that I've even proved it in the past."

Lector relaxed. "You have," he said. But, not sure that he should tell Nesbitt that he had actually died for him, he said instead, "I couldn't have a more protective friend."

Nesbitt leaned into the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. "I like the sound of that. I know I'd do anything for Gansley, Crump, and Johnson. And you . . . you're just the same as them, eh?"

"That's right," Lector said. His heart ached. Would it have been better, or rather, less painful, if Nesbitt didn't remember anything at all? Forgetting only him while remembering the others seemed especially cruel. But no . . . he couldn't selfishly think things like that. It was better for Nesbitt that he remembered everything else. To remember nothing would leave him so alone and afraid. This way, he didn't really suffer much and most of the burden was on Lector. And even though Lector was hurting so desperately, he had to be grateful for Nesbitt's sake.

". . . The others . . . they said we both have tempers and problems getting along."

"Yes," Lector said slowly.

"Why?" Nesbitt asked. "I mean . . . what is it we see so differently?"

"Usually it's problems related to your reckless behavior," Lector said. "I don't agree with many of the split-second decisions you make, and you don't like me questioning you. In the past, there were also problems due to your dislike of being a team player . . . but that's not really an issue anymore."

". . . That's good to know." Nesbitt hesitated. "But so we . . . get along otherwise?"

"It depends on the day and what's happening around us," Lector said. "There are extenuating circumstances that can raise other problems between us. And I can't say I fully understand your love of machines. But yes, we do get along. And even when there are problems, we don't let it explode into something serious. Our arguments are really just spats, rarely harmful or hurtful."

Nesbitt paused, staring off into the distance. ". . . I remember hurting you," he said. "The way you looked at me . . . it was horrible. I don't even remember what I said or did; I just remember that look."

Lector sighed, heavily. "Well . . . I suppose that's progress."

"It's the same way you looked when you realized I didn't know you anymore." Nesbitt passed a hand over his face. "I don't want to hurt you like that. You don't deserve that."

"You can't help what you don't remember," Lector said. "I'm grateful that you're not antagonistic towards me." _I don't think I could stand that._

"Yeah," Nesbitt said. "Me too." Another awkward hesitation. "How long have we known each other?"

"Quite a long time. Years. I hired you to work at KaibaCorp."

". . . So I knew you before I even met any of the others?!"

"Yes," Lector admitted.

"And I'd forget you. . . ." Nesbitt slowly shook his head.

"It's not your fault," Lector insisted.

"Then whose fault is it?!" Nesbitt suddenly boomed. He grimaced, holding a hand to his head. ". . . That was a mistake."

Lector shook his head. "Yes, it was. And we don't know whose fault it is for sure. There are several possibilities."

"When I find out who did it, they'll pay," Nesbitt vowed.

"Do you remember anything at all about what happened when you tried to save Yugi?" Lector asked.

". . . I felt this horrible, stabbing pain behind my eye," Nesbitt said. "Then I lost my balance and we both fell."

Lector frowned. He had heard of people describing it that way when they supposedly fell victim to corrupted voodoo, but he wasn't convinced.

"How can you feel so generous towards me?!" Nesbitt suddenly blurted. "Don't you feel like I betrayed you?!"

Lector started, looking to him in shock. "Of course not!" he snapped. "It's not as if you did this on purpose!"

Nesbitt looked away. "The doctor wondered if I had some psychological reason for wanting to forget you," he said. "What if I did?"

"You didn't," Lector insisted.

"You think you know me that well?" Nesbitt countered.

Lector wavered, stunned by the question. But then he retorted, "Of course I do! All of us know you that well. You have no desire to forget any of us!"

Nesbitt looked away. "Let's hope you're right."

His doubtfulness hurt even worse, but Lector tried not to think about it. He knew it wasn't true.

xxxx

Yugi was growing even more distressed. He had been alone on the third floor for hours, walking around and desperately trying to draw the mysterious ghost out. He certainly felt it; the feeling that it was there had been steadily growing after he had been there for twenty minutes or so. But no matter how he called out or pleaded, it wouldn't respond. By now he was ready to give up.

"These ghosts don't want anything to do with the living," he realized. "The ones outside of the North wing might not be dangerous, but they're just as unfriendly."

He started to trudge back to the stairs. There was little point in going on with this; Atem was probably about ready to give up too. But after a moment he made one last, desperate plea.

"If you're part of the Leichter family, surely you care about them! They're being so badly hurt by everything that's happening here. Why do you want to let them suffer? And why do you want to drag their friends into it? Nesbitt wasn't trying to do anything wrong!" Tears pricked his eyes. "He was just trying to save me after something in the North wing decided to trip me! Now he doesn't even remember Lector. It's not right! It's just not right!"

Only silence met his ears, but as he walked, he almost stepped on something in his path. He quickly bent to pick it up. "What's this?" A purple business card, with red letters in an eerie font. ". . . 'The Gates of Hades'? 'New Orleans' most devilishly exciting club'?" Well, that certainly didn't sound like a pleasant place to go. But a ghost hadn't dropped this.

A shiver went up Yugi's spine. There really was a living person giving them grief too. But . . . who? Why? And where were they?

He ran down the stairs to find Atem.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Nesbitt had been silent for some time. He knew Lector was still there, sitting and watching him and no doubt looking deeply sorrowful and hurt. Nesbitt couldn't bear to see that look, so he couldn't face his friend.

They were friends, weren't they? Even though he couldn't remember, it just felt so right for Lector to be there. And the things he had said had been logical. It all fit. Why couldn't Nesbitt's memory match up with his feelings?

Something flashed in front of his mind's eye. He was dueling, and laughing cruelly as he struck Lector down with his own, brainwashed Duel Monster. Then Lector was lying in the snow, not moving, badly hurt. . . .

"NO!" Nesbitt screamed out loud.

Lector jumped a mile. "What is it?!"

Nesbitt turned to look at him, badly shaken. "How can you want anything to do with me?!" he cried in agonized disbelief. _"How?!"_

"Nesbitt, what on Earth is the matter?!" Lector demanded.

Nesbitt passed a shaking hand over his face. "I hurt you," he choked out. "I laughed and I deliberately blasted you with your own Duel Monster. . . ."

"Oh no," Lector said under his breath. He got up and went to the other bed. "Nesbitt, you weren't operating under your own power when you did that."

Nesbitt looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"You were being mind-controlled," Lector explained. "Don't you remember what happened next?"

"You were laying there, so still," Nesbitt rasped. "I did that to you. . . ."

"You broke free of the control," Lector said. "You couldn't stand that you'd done that to me. You were in hysterics. No one could calm you down until I woke up and you saw I was going to be alright."

"And you forgave me?!" Nesbitt said in disbelief.

"Of course I forgave you," Lector frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You don't forgive easily when someone has wronged you," Nesbitt said. ". . . Wait, how do I know that?"

Lector perked up a bit. "It's not exactly what I'd choose for you to remember first, but yes, you're right," he confessed. "But it was different in your case, Nesbitt. It wasn't you hurting me! It was Yami Marik controlling you. And I haven't forgiven him for doing that to you, I can assure you."

"You're more upset about what was done to me?" Nesbitt stared at him.

"Yes," Lector said. "Just like I'm furious tonight because of what's been done to you."

A quiet knock on the door startled them both. "Come in," Nesbitt said slowly.

The door creaked open and Yugi peeked into the room. "Hi, guys," he greeted. "Sorry to disturb you, but Atem and I heard you talking and I was hoping you might know something about this?" He held up what looked like a business card.

Lector raised an eyebrow. "What is that?"

"I found it on the floor upstairs." Yugi pushed the door open and came into the room. "Whoever's stalking Johnson must have dropped it." He held it out for Lector to see.

"'The Gates of Hades'?!" Lector read in disbelief.

"Um, yeah." Yugi scratched his head in embarrassment. "It sounds like a pretty awful place, and it's not that I thought you'd ever been there, but I thought maybe you knew what it was?"

"No, but I can guess," Lector said flatly.

"I can guess too," Nesbitt grunted.

Atem sighed from the doorway. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid someone will have to go there and ask around. We must find out who is after Johnson, and consequently, the rest of the Big Five."

"Go where?" Crump mumbled, coming up behind him and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"The Gates of Hades," Lector told him. "It's some kind of club in the French Quarter. Yugi found a business card for it upstairs."

"Oh yeah?" Crump went in and took the card. "I'll go check it out."

"Someone should go with you," Yami Bakura said, abruptly appearing on the scene. "I volunteer."

"They'd be open now?" Nesbitt raised an eyebrow.

"According to the card, they open in the evening and stay open until dawn," Atem said.

Crump nodded. "Are you okay with me going, Buddy?" he asked Lector. "I was coming to take my shift. . . ."

"It's fine," Lector said. "I'd rather stay on with Nesbitt anyway."

Crump looked from him to Nesbitt. "Have you guys made any progress?"

". . . I'm starting to remember a few things," Nesbitt said.

"Yeah? That's great!" Crump exclaimed. "Do you remember Lector's your buddy yet?"

". . . Mostly I remember hurting him," Nesbitt mumbled.

"Oh." Crump winced.

Lector sighed. "At least it _is_ progress."

"I guess," Crump frowned.

"Go ahead and go," Lector said. "Just be careful."

Crump saluted. "You can count on it!"

Yugi bit his lip as Crump went off to get dressed. "Do you think this is a good idea?" he worried.

"I don't know," Atem sighed. "We do need to try to find out who dropped that business card, but it hardly sounds like a good place to go."

Yami Bakura sneered. "Don't worry, Pharaoh. I should be able to successfully combat whatever devils we may encounter."

Atem shook his head. "I have the feeling that you want to go partially out of morbid curiosity."

"Well, with a name like that, how can I resist?" Yami Bakura laughed.

Atem facepalmed. "Ugh. And to think, you're the one who's supposed to lead us now?"

"I still say Dr. Raven's guide to magical objects is complete nonsense," Yami Bakura said over his shoulder while walking to the stairs.

"Sometimes I start to believe that," Atem muttered.

Yugi chuckled uneasily.

xxxx

The Gates of Hades was definitely open for business as Crump and Yami Bakura drove up that night. But unlike the images they had conjured in their minds, all of the staff was dressed as Greek mythological characters.

"I can't say this is exactly what I had in mind," Yami Bakura grunted.

"What, did you figure everybody would be dressed up as devils or something?" Crump said.

"Perhaps." Yami Bakura quirked an eyebrow as someone glided past with blue hair and skin.

"Wow, I wonder if Disney knows about this place," Crump blinked.

"Well, nevermind," Yami Bakura growled. "We need to find the manager."

"Actually, I think that was him," Crump realized. "Hey! Hades! We need to talk to you for a minute!"

The cosplayer stopped and turned. "Yes?"

"Uh . . . this is probably going to sound completely off the wall, but we found this business card dropped at the house we're staying at, and uh . . . we were just wondering if any of your staff left it," Crump babbled. "We figured somebody who'd party here must be a pretty fun person to know."

Hades cast a bored look at the business card. "What's your address?"

Yami Bakura recited it, appearing equally bored although he was really studying the man for his reaction.

It was more of a non-reaction. "So what is that? A bed and breakfast or something?"

"Or something," Yami Bakura said.

"I don't think any of my staff was out that way," Hades told him.

"Guess it must have been dropped by a customer then," Crump said. "We'll just look around. Thanks!"

They waited until the manager walked past. Yami Bakura frowned, watching as he looked around furtively and then ducked into the shadows. "That was odd."

"No kidding," Crump said. "What the heck's he doing? Maybe he's the guy!"

"Would he be careless enough to leave that business card?" Yami Bakura wondered. ". . . Or perhaps he wanted it to be found."

"Why would he?" Crump said in surprise.

"Some villains enjoy taunting their prey and leading them on a cat and mouse chase," Yami Bakura said. He started to inch towards the shadows. "Let's try to find out what he's doing."

Crump nervously followed, catching up as they entered a corridor off to the side of the stage.

The gleam of a knife pierced the darkness. "Another move and I'll pierce your fat gut," the manager hissed.

Crump went stiff. "Hey!" The knife was aimed right at his stomach.

Yami Bakura spun around, eyes narrowed. "What is this?!"

"You found me out," the man growled. "Well, I'll do anything to get even with Johnson, including killing one of his best friends in this club and saying it was a random mugging. Yeah, I dropped the card on purpose, hoping one or more of his friends would come here."

"How have you been getting into the mansion?" Yami Bakura demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Hades mocked.

"Why do you hate Johnson so much?!" Crump exclaimed. "Who are you?!"

"I'm the guy he framed for stealing a boat," was the whispered reply.

"Hey, you were trying to sabotage the company he worked for," Crump objected.

"Yeah. I'd been hired to set some bombs and blow it up. But I was so professional that there was no evidence, no proof of it at all. So Johnson made up a story about me stealing a boat to put me out of circulation. By the time I got out, no one would hire me for what I was good at. I was a joke! The only job I could get was this, playing Disney's version of the Greek Lord of the Dead!"

Crump just slowly shook his head. "You're a real nutball. I don't think I blame Johnson for doing anything he could to put you away!"

The knife stabbed closer. "Watch it!"

"Fool!" Yami Bakura spat at Crump. "Chain Energy!" He held up a card and the Infinity Ring glowed. Golden chains suddenly appeared and bound the man's arms to his sides. The knife dropped harmlessly to the floor, where Yami Bakura stepped on it to hold it down.

"Hey! What did you do?!" The manager looked to Yami Bakura with a jerk.

"A little magic trick." Yami Bakura put the card in his pocket. "As I see it, you will never want to reveal why you're so angry with Johnson, because then the police will come after you with who knows how many charges of arson or even murder for your explosions."

"It's not like you can prove any of what I just said," the criminal snapped.

"Oh, can't we?" Crump sneered and held up his phone. "We've been recording the whole show."

Hades stiffened, then snarled and lunged at Crump, who laughed and jumped out of the way.

"The instant you try anything else, we'll play this recording for the police," Yami Bakura said.

"Then you'll be sending Johnson up the river," Hades retorted. "That recording convicts him too!"

"We've got connections," Crump said, praying that was true. "Considering all the ins and outs of this case, I think Johnson might be let off the hook if he testifies against you. Lying in court's not the best policy and all, especially for a lawyer, but he probably actually saved lives by putting you away any way he could!"

Hades cursed him. "Alright, so we're at an impasse. Is that what you're saying?"

"Something like that," Crump said. "Just go back to your current life and leave us alone and maybe we'll leave you alone."

"Maybe." The bitter man's expression started to twist in a cruel manner. "But if I can't destroy Johnson one way, I'll destroy him another way. Go back and ask him about the time he called you and Mr. Gansley 'useless.'"

Crump rocked back. "What?! Now you're just grabbing at straws! He never said that!"

"Well, of course he wouldn't have told you." Hades stepped closer in spite of the binding chains. "Just go back and ask him."

Crump narrowed his eyes. "Okay. We'll do that. Not that anything'll come of it."

"And we're taking this with us." Yami Bakura bent and picked up the knife with a handkerchief. "It has your fingerprints all over it." He gave the man one last mocking sneer before they walked past him and out the side exit.

"Now that was just demented!" Crump ranted. "Why would he say something like that?! Johnson didn't even know any of us when he had contact with that guy! He couldn't know if Johnson ever said some crummy thing like that!"

"It doesn't seem like it," Yami Bakura frowned. "But don't you find his confidence odd? He insisted we go back and ask Johnson about it, as if he knew what we'd be told."

"He's just messing with us," Crump said. "Come on, let's get back."

Yami Bakura followed him to the car, not liking the nagging feeling in his stomach.

"Hey, where'd you get that cloth anyway?" Crump wondered. "You don't seem the type to carry one."

"No, but Bakura is, and he insists I take one," Yami Bakura grunted. "For once it came in use."

xxxx

Nesbitt sighed. He was tired of laying in bed, although he doubted he'd be able to get up right now without suffering a headache and possibly dizziness from the blow to his head. Lector was still there, faithfully and worriedly watching over him, and that only made Nesbitt feel worse when he didn't really remember.

"Are you feeling worse?" Lector asked in concern.

"No," Nesbitt said awkwardly. "I . . . I was just thinking. . . . I remember random things about you. . . . When you get stressed, the veins throb on your forehead. . . . You like those big popcorn tins with the three flavors. . . . You're always complaining how they get smaller every year. But I don't really remember _you, _or what it's like to be with you, or how I feel about you. . . ."

Lector looked away. "Give it time," he said. "You can't call your missing memories back all at once."

"I guess not." Nesbitt gripped the quilt. "But I _want_ to remember. . . ."

_And I want you to, so badly, _Lector thought to himself.

A knock on the door brought them both to attention. "Come in," Lector called.

Johnson and Gansley were both standing there. "Where's Crump?" Gansley frowned.

"It's a long story." Lector started to explain.

Before he could finish, Crump and Yami Bakura came up the stairs. "Honey, we're home," Crump quipped.

Nesbitt rolled his eyes. "Did you find out anything?"

"Oh yeah." Crump sobered, his voice hardening. "Plenty."

"I'll get everyone together so they can all hear this," Yami Bakura volunteered.

As he walked off, Crump took a deep breath and stepped closer to Johnson. "This guy we found said some weird stuff," he said. "He told us to come back here and ask you about some time when you called me and Gansley 'useless.' I know it's garbage and all, but . . ." He trailed off. Johnson had gone sheet-white.

"He . . . he said _that?!_" Johnson cried.

Gansley stared at him. ". . . You really said that about us?" Hurt filled his eyes.

Nesbitt and Lector were staring in shock. "How could you say that about them?!" Nesbitt exclaimed.

Johnson shrank back, shaking, reaching to adjust his glasses. "I . . . I didn't mean it," he protested. "It happened in Noa's world. He was going to kill us all. . . . I had to say something to calm him down. . . . I . . ."

"And just what if he'd decided to off me and Gansley because of what you said? Huh?" Crump advanced on Johnson, eyes flashing.

"I . . ." Horror filled Johnson's face. "I never thought he'd decide to do that. I swear . . . !"

"Crump, calm down," Gansley ordered. "This is exactly how our enemy wants us to react! A more important question is how this person even knew about something that happened in Noa's world!"

"Who cares?!" Crump snapped. "The only thing that matters to me is that he wasn't lying!"

Johnson looked pleadingly at Crump. "When I thought I was dying and might say something I'd regret about something unkind I'd done, you said that you'd try to think of it as being in the past," he said. "You asked me if it was something I'd do again and I said no, that I couldn't!"

"And that was what you were worried you might say?!" Crump glowered at him. "I didn't know then that it was something targeted at me specifically! And Gansley?! He's our leader! You said something that disrespectful about him?! How can I trust anything you're saying now?! How can any of us?!"

Johnson choked, backing up out of the doorway. He gave the others one look of utter devastation before he turned and ran.

"Johnson, come back!" Lector yelled after him. He ran to the doorway, but somehow, mysteriously, Johnson was already gone.

"We have to find him," Gansley exclaimed. "In his state, who knows what could happen to him!"

"Little weasel's just gone off to sulk somewhere," Crump said bitterly.

"You know that's not true," Gansley retorted, his voice stern.

"His heart is broken." Lector ran into the hall. "Johnson?!"

Nesbitt started to struggle out of bed. "Johnson's been in a bad state ever since we came here. Someone's been driving him into despair. I'm going to help look."

"You shouldn't get up," Gansley frowned.

"I'm alright," Nesbitt growled.

"Let's split up and each take part of the estate," Gansley directed, pointing with his cane. "Nesbitt, if you insist on going, then go with Lector and search this floor. I don't want you trying to stumble around alone. Crump, why don't you look outside?"

"Fine," Crump snarled, and stalked off. He was too angry and hurt to be concerned at the moment, but Gansley was the leader and he would respect that decision.

Something felt wrong as soon as he got outside. The air was cold, but not a normal, pleasant cold. It was dark with an almost tangible darkness, like the Shadow Realm. Even though Crump really didn't like using the cliche, it felt downright evil.

His anger started to fade a bit. Johnson really had looked heartbroken. . . . And it had been so long ago. . . . And as Crump himself had said, they had all done things not so fitting for their friendship at some time or another. . . .

"Johnson . . . ?" he called tentatively.

He walked ahead through the grass. He could hear the water of the fountain now; he was almost to the garden and that creepy pool.

The pool?

Memories of Evangeline's story about the siren in the pool sent him forward in a panic. What if it was true?! "Johnson!" he yelled.

He rounded a corner and ground to a halt. There was Johnson now, walking directly towards the pool. And there, hovering above the surface, was a strange, wispy figure with long, blonde hair and a dress that almost melted into the foam of the water. . . .

"Johnson, what the heck are you doing?!" Crump screamed. He started running again. "You can't get in the water with her! You'll drown!"

"They've all turned against me," Johnson spoke. Even though he was clearly in a trance, the anguish still slipped into his voice. "I knew if that ever got out, it would be the end." He stepped into the water. "I'm all alone now. . . . It doesn't matter. I deserve it. . . ." Then he fell down far enough that the water filled his mouth. He didn't notice or care.

Crump kicked his shoes off, sending them flying in all directions, and set his phone on the edge of the fountain. "Johnson! Snap out of it!" he bellowed.

The siren looked up, her eyes flashing with rage. Then, even as Crump was about to dive in, she changed, morphing into a beautiful young girl in a bikini. "Just leave him," she whispered. "Come play with me. You know you want to."

Crump stared. Even as he looked, his free will started to disappear. Marian Francis from school, so many years ago. . . . She was so beautiful. . . . And unlike in school, she was actually interested in him. . . .

Johnson fell completely under the water. It bubbled where he'd gone down.

Crump shook himself out of his trance. "No!" He leaped into the water and grabbed the semi-conscious body of his friend. Then he was desperately swimming back to the surface, clawing at it with his free hand. He could feel the siren's rage and anger, but there was nothing she could do when she had no hold over him.

They broke through the surface and Crump dragged Johnson onto the shore. For one terrifying moment Johnson was very still. Then he started coughing and choking, spitting up the water he had swallowed. Crump turned him onto his side so he could breathe easier. But before he could figure out what to say, Johnson rolled onto his back and stared up at him. "Crump? . . ." The awe and disbelief in his voice shredded Crump's heart. "You saved my life. . . ."

"I'm so sorry, Buddy," Crump rasped. "I was so shocked and hurt I wasn't thinking clear, and now you almost died because of me!" He sobbed, taking Johnson in his arms. "I almost killed you. . . ."

Stunned, Johnson slowly returned the hug. "I'm alive because of you," he protested. "I didn't think any of you could ever forgive me if you knew what I'd said. . . ." He shut his eyes tightly, tears leaking out.

"I didn't think we could either," Crump said. "Or me, at least. That was just stupid. Everybody forgives you, Johnson! We've all done crummy things in the past. And hey, you probably really did save our lives when you got Noa calmed down." He hugged Johnson close.

Johnson cried. "I've been so afraid you'd all leave me, and then the siren played on that. . . . I felt so lost and alone. . . ."

"Crump?! Johnson?!"

They both looked up with a start. Gansley was coming towards them, moving as fast as he could despite his cane and his bad legs. Lector and Nesbitt were running over from another direction.

"What happened?!" Nesbitt demanded.

"Johnson got bamboozled by the siren," Crump explained, his heart heavy. "She's real! She almost drowned him because I hurt him so bad. . . ."

"From the looks of things, you got him out," Gansley observed, noting how drenched they both were.

"He did," Johnson said.

"You were both hurt," Lector said quietly. "It couldn't have been easy, finding out what Johnson said about you in the past."

"But that's no excuse," Crump protested. "I almost got my buddy killed. . . ."

"Let's go back in the house and you can both dry off," Gansley said. "Maybe you'll be feeling a little better once it sinks in that you saved him, Crump."

"And he overcame the siren," Johnson suddenly realized. "He must have. . . . She'd never just let him rescue me without trying to get him. . . ."

Nesbitt looked to Crump in surprise. "What did she try to trick you with?" he asked.

"Guess," Crump grunted. He got to his feet, bringing Johnson up with him.

"A very fetching young lady," Lector determined. He found Crump's shoes and brought them to him.

Crump nodded. "Somebody I had a crush on in school. She almost snagged me for a minute there," he admitted. "But then Johnson went under and I snapped out of it. No pretty girl is worth my friend's life."

Gansley gruffly smiled in approval. "Well said, Crump."

**Notes: Thanks to Harry2 for the suggestion of mentioning Ouija boards last chapter, and Crescent Blue for suggesting the siren appear to Crump as someone he had crushed on in school. The idea of Lector liking those popcorn tins is because I saw an interview with his voice actor, Tom Souhrada, who likes them.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Both Crump and Johnson wanted to shower after falling in the pool. When Gansley entered the living room afterwards, he found Johnson sitting near the fire in a robe, with a throw pulled over his shoulders.

Johnson didn't look up. "I know you must be as hurt as Crump was, if not more."

"I can't deny that." Gansley sat across from Johnson. "What on Earth possessed you to say something like that to Noa?"

"I don't even know," Johnson said forlornly. "I was desperate to assure him we wouldn't all lose. I'd told so many lies by that point that one more didn't seem all that terrible, even a lie about two of my best friends. I thought if it would save you in the end, it was justified." He looked up. "But I never wanted any of you to find out what I'd said. I knew you wouldn't understand or appreciate it, and I was so afraid you'd all leave me because of it."

Gansley looked at him carefully. "But it _was_ a lie," he prompted. "You didn't believe it?"

"Of course not!" Johnson looked up at him. "You're my oldest friend, Gansley. We've been through so much together and I've always appreciated that! And Crump . . . well, I often don't understand him, but I still love him. If I could take back what I said, I would."

"No." Gansley got up and went over to sit beside him. "You did calm Noa down and he didn't try to kill us any more at that point. You saved us, Johnson. Maybe nothing else you could have said would have worked." He drew an arm around him. "As long as I know you didn't mean it, I'm grateful."

Johnson managed a smile. "Thank you. . . ."

"What we need to know now is how that person even knew what you'd said," Gansley said. "Something isn't right here."

"A whole lot of things aren't right!" Crump exclaimed, entering the living room after his shower. All of the mansion's other living occupants trailed after him.

"So we're going to have a conference about it, right here, right now," Yami Bakura said.

"But wait a minute," Evangeline interjected. "Démas said the siren in the pool is real and it almost drowned you two?!" She looked from Crump to Johnson.

"Yeah," Crump said. "That's a real piece of work out there."

"How horrible!" Serenity exclaimed.

"Let's think about something else," Yami Bakura said flatly.

Between him and Crump, they relayed the entire experience from the club and Crump played back the recording he had made on his phone. Johnson was pale again by the time they finished.

"I . . . I have no idea how he could have known what I said," he gasped. "It doesn't make sense!"

"I think he's been in touch with supernatural forces," Atem frowned. "Someone must have told him!"

"Would just any spirit know, though?" Lector countered. "It seems to me that the only person who knew was Noa."

"Noa wouldn't do this!" Mokuba insisted. "He saved all of us and went into the light. . . . He's not bad anymore. . . ." He slumped back into the couch, defeated.

Seto frowned. He didn't know what to believe. Noa _had_ saved them, but after everything else he had pulled, he certainly seemed capable of doing something like this. Noa had hated the Big Five. Then again, he had hated everyone else too, and he'd had a change of heart and stopped them from being killed. . . . He ran his hands over his face. It seemed like a question without an answer.

"There's other ways he could know," Evangeline said. "Like if he could look into the past. . . ."

"Then that's what he probably did," Mokuba pounced. "Maybe he has some voodoo thing that lets him do that."

No one could protest that idea after all that had happened.

"But did he somehow cause me to lose my memory of Lector?" Nesbitt wondered. "Or did it happen some other way?"

"If we knew that, maybe we'd have a big part of this mystery solved," Crump groaned.

"And then there's the wardrobe," Johnson said.

"What about the wardrobe?" Seto sharply asked.

Johnson and Nesbitt quickly explained.

". . . Okay, that's just freaky," Joey said.

"I had no idea," Evangeline exclaimed. "I don't see any purpose in it."

"We should check all the rooms to see if they're the same way," Gansley said.

Duke was silent, pondering.

"What's on your mind, Duke?" David asked.

Duke looked to him. "I doubt Snakes knows anything about the North wing or the paperback wardrobe or he would have warned me. But I think I should call and ask him anyway." He looked at the clock. "Going by Pacific Time, he might be getting off work about now."

"Then call him," David encouraged. "We need all the help we can get!"

Duke dreaded telling Snakes of all the new trouble and making him worry, but he got out his phone and dialed. As he had thought, Snakes soon answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Snakes." Duke hesitated. "Look, I'm sorry to bug you as soon as you got off work, but I'm wondering if you know anything about the North wing in this house. It's . . . kind of important."

"The North wing," Snakes mused. "It does seem like Ismael said something about it. . . . Yeah, I remember him talking about needing to change the lock on the doors leading into it. I asked him why it was locked up anyway, and he said it was just another of his wife's idiosyncracies, that she just didn't want anyone wandering in there by accident."

"I'm afraid by keeping people out, she was protecting them from some serious trouble," Duke said.

"Why? What's wrong?" Snakes demanded.

Duke started to explain about the North wing and what had happened to Nesbitt. Snakes listened, stunned and more than a little creeped out.

"This sounds like bad news. And all those other ghosts are just stubborn and won't talk or help or anything? You've really got into something bad this time, Pal."

"No kidding," Duke sighed. "We don't know how to help Nesbitt, Lector's devastated . . . oh, and we discovered the siren story is real. She almost drowned Johnson and Crump. And the back of the wardrobe in Nesbitt's and Johnson's room is barely stronger than paper and opens up into some weird drop-off where the pipes are."

Snakes swore. "Maybe I'd better come out there."

"It'd be great to see you, Snakes," Duke said, "but I'd be worried for you to get mixed up in this mess too. This is not a good place. Not even Yami Bakura could get the spirits to talk."

". . . I can't deny I'm freaked," Snakes said. "But I'll see if I can get away so I can come out there. Be careful until I get there!"

Duke smiled a bit. "I'll be as careful as possible. And around here, that might not be saying much. See you, Snakes."

Both Serenity and David were watching him as he hung up.

"He's coming out here?" Serenity said in concern. "He might get hurt. . . ."

"He wants to come anyway," Duke said. He sighed. "I hope no one else is going to get hurt, but around here, who can say."

"Well, I recommend that we try to salvage what's left of the night," Gansley said. "Everyone needs more sleep, especially Nesbitt. And some of you haven't slept at all."

Seto nodded. "And I'll have to call the D.A. in the morning," he grunted. "I'm not looking forward to that."

"At least your doc can verify Nesbitt's injuries," Joey said.

"Yeah. And . . . oh man, what if they don't postpone the case and we have to go in today?" Tristan grimaced. "Come on, let's hurry and sleep for as long as we can!"

That was more than enough to send the majority of the group running for the stairs. Those left followed, at a slower pace.

"Tristan has an excellent point, Yugi," Atem said. "Let's try to get some sleep."

"Yeah. . . ." Yugi shuddered. He really doubted he would sleep, but he had to admit he wanted to try.

xxxx

To everyone's surprise and relief, they all did get back to sleep—but with all the chaos, most of them slept far too long.

"Oh my gosh!" Téa exclaimed, sitting up like a shot and staring at the clock. "If we're supposed to go to court, we're late!"

Serenity mumbled something indistinguishable from the next bed. Téa glanced to her while throwing back the covers. She would let the younger girl sleep on until she found out what was happening. Surely someone was awake and knew!

She pulled a robe on over her nightgown before running into the hall. Tristan was already there, talking to Seto. She ran over, picking up their conversation as she went. To her relief, apparently Seto had awakened on time and taken his doctor to meet with the judge and the district attorney in chambers. The end result had been to postpone both trials, at least for the time being, as Nesbitt's testimony was important to both trials and what had happened to him had affected Lector and Evangeline to the point that they might not be able to provide accurate testimony either.

"How did you explain Nesbitt only forgetting one person?" Tristan exclaimed as Téa came up to them. "Oh hey, Téa."

"Good morning, Tristan. Kaiba." Téa covered her mouth to hide a yawn.

Seto nodded in her direction. "Unfortunately, we could only say we didn't know what happened and that it might be psychological," he said. "Even if New Orleans accepts ghosts and voodoo, I wasn't about to say that either thing might have been responsible for Nesbitt's amnesia."

Téa sighed. "Poor guy. . . ."

"Is he still asleep?" Seto asked.

"I think so," Tristan said. "And Yugi got up and started working on the silverware puzzle again. He said it's all we've got to go on right now."

"He's probably right," Seto said.

"We could also try going over the attic better," Tristan said. "We didn't really get to see it in detail on the tour."

"It's worth a try," Seto conceded.

"And what are we going to do about that creep from The Gates of Hades club?" Téa wondered. "I really hate to think of just letting him roam free after all the stuff he admitted doing in the past and everything he's been doing to torture Johnson. He's obviously not planning to turn over a new leaf any time soon. But if we tell about him, Johnson really might go to prison, and that just doesn't seem fair when he _is _trying to turn over a new leaf and he isn't dangerous anymore. . . ."

". . . I talked to the judge about that, too," Seto admitted, "and we also called the district attorney back in Domino City. The end result was that everyone agreed that man was and still is extremely dangerous and that Johnson will be let off the hook if he turns state's evidence against that lunatic."

"Oh, that's great to hear," Téa said, smiling and relaxing in relief.

"I just hope Johnson won't be upset that you took it upon yourself to tell all that stuff without his permission," Tristan remarked.

"He might be," Seto shrugged, "but I'm sure the end result will make him feel it was worth it."

Atem, who had come out of his room in time to hear the last part of the discussion, said, "It was good of you to take the time to try to help him, Kaiba."

Seto grunted. "It wasn't for him so much as it was to keep all of us safe from that madman."

Mokuba just smiled. That might be true, but he knew Seto didn't want to see the Big Five split up now that they were all allies, and when Seto understood how devoted they were to each other.

"Anyway," Seto continued, "let's try that idea of looking through the attic. Anyone who wants to come with me, I'm going up right now." He headed for the stairs to the third floor.

"Wait up!" Mokuba called, hurrying after him.

"I'm going to see how Yugi's coming along with the silverware," Atem said. "Why don't you two go with the Kaibas?"

"Okay," Tristan shrugged.

"I hope Yugi's making some progress," Téa said.

"Maybe later I should check the basement," Atem said. "Evangeline was originally sure there was a secret passageway that opens down there, and I wouldn't be surprised."

"Sounds good to me," Tristan said.

xxxx

Nesbitt wasn't at all sure what to think when he started to rouse up and realized he was resting against Lector. The other man was still asleep, but one arm was protectively around Nesbitt to keep him from rolling off the bed. Normally Nesbitt sprawled all over a bed in his sleep, so it was a bit of a surprise to him that he had stayed still. Maybe it was just because of his injury; that would certainly be reason enough to keep him from wanting to roll everywhere.

"Well, the two of you look cozy."

Nesbitt looked over Lector's shoulder. Gansley was standing in the doorway, looking both amused and touched.

"I don't know how this happened," Nesbitt stammered.

"I do," Gansley said. "You were rolling around so much in your sleep that Lector was afraid you were going to roll right off the bed and hurt yourself worse. So he laid down next to you to try to make you settle down."

Nesbitt stared at Lector. A flash of memory came to him—Lector falling out of bed with a crash one night when they had been forced to share a bed in a crowded hotel.

". . . I knocked _him_ out of bed, and he'd risk that happening again?" Nesbitt said in disbelief.

"Of course he would, when he was worried about you," Gansley said.

"I don't even remember him . . ." Nesbitt said quietly.

"But he remembers you," Gansley pointed out. "He wouldn't stop caring about you just because right now there's some strange block over your mind."

Nesbitt fell silent. "He sure doesn't."

"He must have been extremely exhausted," Gansley said. "It's been such a long night."

". . . And of course he couldn't really be at peace because of what happened to me. . . ."

Gansley couldn't deny that. "He seems to be at peace now."

". . . He deserves that," Nesbitt said. "I just hope I'll be able to remember him soon." He had to admit that this was incredibly awkward when he just didn't remember the man. And yet, somehow, he felt comfortable with it at the same time. Deep down, he remembered.

"You're making progress," Gansley said. "Whatever spell was put on you, it can't hold you."

That was comforting, Nesbitt had to admit.

"Some of us are going to look through the attic for any clues or secret passages," Gansley went on.

"Well, good for you," Nesbitt mumbled. He didn't feel much like moving. Not to mention he doubted he could without disturbing Lector.

Sensing that, Gansley turned back to the door. "We'll let you know how it goes."

"Thanks," Nesbitt said. "Be careful."

"I can assure you, we will," Gansley said.

When Gansley left, Nesbitt started to doze again.

Even though he didn't remember Lector, he felt so safe here, somehow. . . .

xxxx

Johnson was told what Seto had done for him as he, Gansley, and Crump were heading up to the attic with some of the others. Naturally, he wasn't sure what to make of it at first.

"He told about my past?!" he said in horror.

"I think just what you did to that creep from the club last night," Tristan said.

"And they've all arranged it so you'll stay free if you testify against him," Téa added.

"That's wonderful," Serenity beamed.

Crump whooped. "You're gonna be okay, Buddy! You don't have to worry they're gonna lock you away!"

Johnson stopped walking on the stairs, adjusting his glasses as he tried to process this information. He had been worrying so much about what would happen to him, and now thanks to Seto Kaiba, he was safe? It was so much to take in. . . .

"Mr. Kaiba would really do that for me?" he said at last.

"Well, of course he said it was to protect all of us from that creepy guy," Téa said. "But yeah, he did it."

Seto didn't comment on the conversation. Instead, he pushed open the door to the attic at the top of the steep stairs from the third floor.

Joey jumped when it gave a loud and unsettling _creak._ Then he was alert, glaring around the large room as he looked for any sign of a ghost.

"Man, there's so much stuff up here," Tristan commented, pushing a box aside before it could fall off a table. "The house is so big, you wouldn't think they'd need to store so many things in the attic."

"I guess the bigger the house, the more 'stuff' they collect," David said.

"Hey, did anyone else check their rooms to see if they have a paperback wardrobe?" Téa wondered. "There isn't one in my and Serenity's room."

No one else had found one either. But that only made the mystery more bewildering.

"So why Nesbitt and Johnson's room?" Mokuba frowned.

"The only way we might find any answers is to investigate behind their wardrobe more thoroughly," Seto said. "See how far down the drop is, see where the pipe goes, etcetera."

"That would make a lot of noise," Crump said.

"So put Nesbitt in a different room," Seto said. "Unless he feels well enough to be up and around more today."

"I hope he will," Johnson said. "And I wish he could remember Lector. . . ."

"I wish we could figure out why he doesn't," Gansley said.

"Well, in any case, I'm not feeling anything strange up here," Tristan said. "Maybe we should start spreading out."

"We really can't feel any ghosts on the second floor in the daytime," Téa said. "Maybe they really don't come out then."

"If a spirit is truly haunting a location, it should be there no matter what time of day it is," Ishizu said.

". . . That makes sense," Tristan said with a shiver.

"So . . . what exactly are we doing here in the attic anyway?" Joey wondered. "Are we trying again to summon a ghost, or are we trying to find secret passageways?"

"Both, I guess?" Tristan said. "Although it doesn't seem very hopeful about the ghost." He sighed. "I just don't get why none of the ghosts will talk to us!"

"They obviously care nothing for the problems of the living," Seto grunted.

"Lousy ghosts," Joey muttered.

"Hey, watch it! You'll make them mad!" Tristan hissed.

Joey stiffened in alarm. ". . . Good point."

The group gradually started to disperse to various parts of the attic, some trying to draw the ghost out while others tapped walls or looked through some of the many boxes.

"Wow, these toys look ancient," Joey commented as he peered down at some old dolls.

"Probably something that belonged to Lector's mom or even her mom," Tristan said, looking over from where he was feeling across the wall.

"Hey, Joey, is this a friend of yours?" Mai smirked playfully from several tables over.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Mai?" Joey looked, just in time to see her pull the sheet back on a skeleton hanging on a hook. Of course, Joey screamed. "What the heck is that doing here?!"

Seto glanced over at it. "It looks like the kind of model they use in medical schools."

"But it's a real skeleton, right?!" Joey quavered.

"Probably," Seto said matter-of-factly.

Mokuba shook his head and turned to the wall, tapping across it in determination. "There's gotta be a secret passage somewhere," he said. "They're everywhere else. . . ."

At last he pressed down on one side of a particular piece of wood and something clicked inside the wall. A panel swung open, and a limp body that had been propped against it fell out on the floor.

Mokuba screamed. It was Marik.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"Oh my gosh!" Téa shrieked.

"Marik!" Mokuba grabbed his friend's shoulders, shaking him. "Marik, wake up!"

Seto ran over and knelt down, feeling for a pulse. "What was he doing here?" he frowned. "Didn't he go to bed with everyone else?"

"He did! I saw him go in the room with Rishid!" Mokuba wailed. "Is he alive, Seto?!"

"He's alive," Seto said, "but I don't know what happened to him. I can't find any indication of physical trauma."

"What are we going to do?!" Téa cried.

"I'm going to take him downstairs to the doctor," Seto said, lifting Marik into his arms. "Maybe some of the rest of you should start investigating that secret passageway for answers."

Joey was already running for the passageway to see. "There's nothing in here except some stairs going down."

"Well, then let's see what's down there!" Tristan said, pushing Joey into the passage.

Téa stood by, her eyes filled with worry. "I'm sure Marik will be alright, Mokuba," she tried to say, but it sounded hollow. The way things were going, how could she really say that?

Mokuba gripped Marik's limp hand. "He's gotta be," he whispered. "He was just fine last night, and he was going to bed. . . . How did this happen?!"

No one had any answers.

Seto hurried downstairs as fast as he could go without running the risk of tripping. Mokuba chased behind him, his heart wildly thumping in his chest. Seto wished he could say something as encouraging as Téa had, but he really couldn't. What had happened was absolutely baffling, and Marik showed no signs of waking up.

"Maybe I should get Ishizu and Rishid," Mokuba sobbed as they reached the second floor.

"Let's wait a few minutes and see what the doctor says," Seto said. He carried Marik down one more flight of stairs and located the room on the ground floor where his medical team had settled.

"Good grief! Another one?!" the head doctor exclaimed when Seto appeared in the doorway.

"We found him in a secret passageway in the attic," Seto reported. He laid Marik on the nearest couch. "I can't find any blood or bumps."

The team set about examining Marik. Mokuba stood by, eyes wide, desperately praying for good news. Seto laid a hand on his shoulder.

Finally the head doctor looked up. "It looks like he was chloroformed," he announced.

"What?!" Seto exclaimed.

Mokuba stared. "But he'll be okay, right?!"

"He'll probably have a horrible headache when he wakes up," the doctor said. "Chloroform has that effect. But yes, he should be alright."

Mokuba bit his lip. "I hope he won't wake up not remembering Rishid or Ishizu . . . or me. . . ."

"Unfortunately, I can't offer any help with that, except to say that chloroform doesn't work that way." The doctor shook his head. "But in this house, none of the normal rules seem to apply!"

Seto couldn't argue with that. He reached down, picking Marik up again. "I'll take him up to his room and tell his siblings. When do you think he might wake up?"

"An hour . . . two. . . . It really depends on when the chloroform was administered, and how much," was the reply.

". . . What if too much was used?" Mokuba worried.

"There's no need to think about that," the doctor said uncomfortably. "I have every reason to believe he'll recover."

Seto was nevertheless grim as they headed back to the stairs. "Marik was probably investigating something again and someone overpowered him," he said. "If you wander off again, Mokuba, you could be next!"

Mokuba looked down. Seto definitely hadn't been happy that Mokuba had decided to investigate last night, although he had been relieved that Mokuba hadn't been alone. But if Marik couldn't take care of himself, he couldn't take care of Mokuba, or that was likely how Seto's logic was working right now.

"Marik's always protected me when we've been together," he said. "Of course, I don't want him to have to. . . . I want to be able to be strong and take care of myself, so people won't get hurt trying to save me. But I mean, Marik's never let me down, Seto!"

"I know." Seto arrived back on the second floor and quickly found the right room. Ishizu and Rishid were both inside talking, but they looked up with a start when Seto came to the doorway.

"Marik!" Ishizu cried in horror.

"What happened?!" Rishid demanded. "We were just wondering where Marik was!"

"We found him in a secret passageway in the attic," Seto said again.

"The doctor says he was chloroformed!" Mokuba added.

Ishizu was stunned, while Rishid looked ready to deal out judgment on whoever had done such a thing.

"He should be alright," Seto said. He laid Marik on the bed in the room that was unmade. "But so you don't know how he left the room or why?"

"No," Rishid insisted. "We were both ready to go to sleep, and we did!"

Ishizu walked over to the wardrobe and opened it, frowning thoughtfully. As she pushed aside the clothes, she gasped. "Oh!"

"Ishizu?!" Rishid had been at Marik's side, but now he looked up with a jerk. "We checked there! The backing isn't made of paper!"

"No, but apparently it wasn't normal either," Ishizu said. She stepped aside so they could see. The entire back had swung 180 degrees, allowing them to see through to the drop-off and the pipes beyond.

Seto ran over. "Somehow, Marik either found this or his assailant came through this way," he mused.

"But if that creep came through there, how would he drug Marik and then carry him back through if there's nothing solid and he had to climb pipes?" Mokuba wondered.

"Maybe he didn't," Seto said. "Maybe he started coming through and Marik woke up and saw him and gave chase."

"But why wouldn't I have woke up?" Rishid exclaimed.

"For the same reason none of us saw Yugi and Nesbitt lying on the floor, maybe?" Mokuba said softly. "Maybe Marik tried to wake you up and the ghosts . . . just wouldn't let you hear him."

"I don't know what I believe," Seto said in disgust, "but I'm going through there and see where it leads."

"Seto!" Mokuba jumped up in horror.

"I'll be okay, kid," Seto insisted. "That person couldn't still be in there."

"Hey, what the heck?!" came a sudden voice echoing through the strange passageway. "What is this place?!"

"Joey, don't fall!" Tristan cried.

"Do you realize what a stupid thing that is to say?!" Joey yelled. "If you're gonna fall, you won't be able to stop yourself because someone tells you to!"

Seto leaned into the wardrobe. "Wheeler? Tristan? What are you doing? Is this really where the passage in the attic comes out?"

"It sure is," Tristan called down. "But . . . where's that?!"

"I'm standing in Marik and Rishid's room," Seto said.

"Are you serious?!" Joey leaned farther in, trying to see. "We went down several flights of stairs, and then all of a sudden there's nothing but a pipe floating in space! What the heck?!"

"It looks like an unfinished project," Seto said.

"And how's Marik, by the way?!" Joey asked. "Do you know yet?!"

"He was chloroformed," Seto said. "Our guess is that someone came through this passage and he woke up and chased them. Then they chloroformed him at the top of the stairs."

"Freaky!" Joey gasped. "Do you think it was that sleaze from the club?"

"I don't know," Seto frowned.

"Would he really dare to come back here after what Crump and Yami Bakura said to him?" Tristan wondered.

"He might," Seto said. "He might think it was worth the risk to try to get that recording off Crump's phone. The district attorney was going to have the police pick him up, though. He should be in custody by now."

"That doesn't mean he is," Tristan said.

"And if he is, that means we've got some other living creep to worry about!" Joey exclaimed.

"There's that business about the family treasure too," Seto said. "There could be someone in the family trying to get hold of that."

"Evangeline would sure believe it," Tristan said bitterly, "and I can't say I blame her."

". . . Are you two going to come down, or are you going to go back to the attic and come down on the regular stairs?" Seto asked.

Tristan eyed the drop. ". . . I think we'll go around the long way," he said. "It might be the shortest way in the long run."

Seto watched them turn and run back up the stairs. Then, frowning, he took out his phone and shined its flashlight into the abyss. The stairs couldn't be suspended in mid-air, after all; something had to be supporting them down below. And maybe that meant the drop to the floor wasn't as great as it looked.

Sure enough, the floor was visible on what was likely the level of the ground floor of the house. Seto nodded in approval. He intended to go down there and take a look, once he had a rope.

"Hey, I just thought of something," Mokuba spoke. "What if the ghosts are all trying to protect the family treasure? Maybe that's why the ghosts in the North wing are so nasty. Maybe that's where it is."

"It's supposed to be in the cemetery," Seto said as he drew back into the room.

"Well, then maybe the passageway to get to it is in the North wing," Mokuba suggested.

"If it is, then the spirits can keep it," Ishizu said with uncharacteristic bitterness. She smoothed Marik's bangs back. "And I'm quite sure Evangeline would feel the same way."

"You can tell Evangeline your theory and see what she thinks," Seto said. "I need to find a rope so I can go down there."

"But Seto!" Mokuba cried in alarm. "You might get hurt too!"

"I'll be careful," Seto promised as he left the room.

"Yeah. . . ." Mokuba looked down at his friend. "I'm sure Marik tried to be careful too. . . ." He reached and took Marik's hand. "Please wake up. . . . And be okay. . . ."

Marik was silent, and Rishid sadly laid a hand on his shoulder.

xxxx

The next time Nesbitt stirred, Lector was waking up too. "Good morning," Lector greeted him.

"Morning." Nesbitt went a bit red, and slowly started to move out from under Lector's protecting arm. "Gansley, er . . . said why you decided to sleep on this bed. . . ."

Lector sat up. "You were extremely active in your sleep, as usual."

"Well . . . thanks." Nesbitt sat on the edge of the bed, raising a hand to his head. "The last thing I needed was to fall and hit my head again. But I could have ended up rolling off anyway, and taking you with me."

"I was willing to chance it," Lector shrugged. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't remember anything more," Nesbitt said. "But I don't have as bad a headache today." He got off the bed. "I remember Gansley saying some of the group was going to go into the attic. I wonder if they had any luck."

"What were they looking for?" Lector wondered.

"Secret passages or clues," Nesbitt said. He headed for the closet where the clothes had been relocated. "I'm going to get dressed and then maybe we should go find out if they succeeded."

"Very well." Lector got up too. "My clothes are still next-door. I'll see you in a few minutes."

He stepped out into the hall. He wasn't expecting to see anything going on there, and it startled him when he nearly bumped into Téa running down from the third floor.

"Miss Gardner?!" he exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Oh . . . Lector!" Téa blinked back tears. "Marik's hurt! We found him in a secret passage in the attic and Joey and Tristan said the doctor says he was chloroformed! I was coming down now to check on him."

"What on Earth?!" Lector exclaimed.

"And that creep from the club should have been arrested, so if it wasn't him, that means somebody else is wandering around the house too!" Téa continued.

"Does Evangeline know?" Lector demanded.

"We haven't found her yet," Téa said. "She's not in her room, or Angelique's. . . ."

"I'll hurry and get dressed and look for her," Lector said. He wondered if she might be in the yard. She had always loved the outdoors, and as she said, the yard was her favorite part of this property. When by now she was so upset at everything happening in what she had hoped would be a happy place to live, she might very well go to the yard to think.

"By the way, where are Gansley, Crump, and Johnson?" he asked Téa.

"They're still looking around in the attic with some of the others," Téa said. "Who knows what other horrible discoveries we're going to make!"

Lector was worried about that as well. "I hope Mr. Ishtar will be alright," he said before ducking into his room.

"Me too," Téa said softly.

Nesbitt was coming out of his room several minutes later, around the same time Lector emerged from his. "I heard the Gardner girl in the hall," he frowned.

"Yes," Lector said. "I'm going to look for Evangeline right now. I'm worried that no one's seen her."

"I'll help you look then," Nesbitt said, feeling a bit awkward yet wanting to help.

Lector smiled a bit. "Alright."

They went downstairs and Lector immediately went to the French doors opening into the backyard. At first there wasn't any sign of his sister, but as he and Nesbitt walked deeper into the yard, they found her leaning on the base of the fountain with folded arms.

"Evangeline?" Lector called.

She turned. "Démas. . . . Mr. Nesbitt. . . ." She smiled. "How are you?"

"Well . . . I still don't remember," Nesbitt said awkwardly.

"But he's feeling a little better physically," Lector interjected.

"Oh, that's good." Evangeline sighed, leaning backwards against the fountain now. "I'm planning on calling an exorcist today. Maybe once these horrible spirits are gone, we'll be able to return to life as we know it. Maybe it will even release the block on Mr. Nesbitt's memories."

"I don't think it will be that simple," Nesbitt said, "but considering everything that's been happening, I guess anything's worth a try."

Lector sighed. "I hate to bring more bad news, but something's gone wrong in the house again."

"Oh no." Evangeline pushed away from the fountain. "What now?"

Lector quickly explained what Téa had told him. Evangeline listened, growing more horrified and indignant as the explanation went on.

"Do we know for sure that man has been arrested?" she demanded at the conclusion.

"I called on the way down," Lector said. "Yes, he's in custody. They arrested him early this morning. He was working at the club until he was arrested; everyone saw him."

Evangeline clenched a fist. "Then there really is someone else," she said darkly. "Someone in the family, maybe. I wonder who; everyone's a suspect. Well, except little Gabriel, of course."

"You really think the family is capable of chloroforming some guiltless kid?" Nesbitt frowned.

"Oh, they're capable of far worse," Evangeline sneered. She paused, cocking her head to the side as she studied Nesbitt. "Mr. Nesbitt, since you don't remember Démas, do you remember anything about me?"

". . . I only remember what I've been told," Nesbitt said awkwardly. "When I first woke up not remembering, I knew we were in New Orleans, at this house, but I couldn't remember anything about who you are. It was more like you were just the owner of this . . . bed and breakfast we're all staying at. I know that isn't actually the truth, but that's how it seemed to me when I woke up."

"I see," Evangeline said with a small and sad smile. "Well, I hope to correct that." She headed for the house. "I'm calling that exorcist."

Lector and Nesbitt chased after her. "Don't you think someone in the family has probably already tried that in the past, Evangeline?" Lector said.

"Maybe," Evangeline said, "unless they felt like they didn't have the right to kick the spirits out. I felt like that myself, until I saw what they were really capable of." She paused as they stepped onto the patio. "I feel so lost right now, like I'm drowning in anger and bitterness. I have every right to feel that way, but . . . I miss when I didn't know how cruel the world really is."

Lector laid a hand on her shoulder. "So do I," he said quietly.

Evangeline turned and hugged him. "Oh Démas. . . ."

Nesbitt looked away, wanting to let them have a sibling moment without him hovering there. He moved closer to the French doors and started to open them. To his surprise, Johnson was inside, standing and staring at his phone.

"Johnson?!" Nesbitt hurried over to him. "What's going on? I thought you were in the attic!"

Johnson looked up, and Nesbitt drew back. He was sheet-white and looked downright ill. "Look," he rasped, and held up his phone. "This is from the man they arrested today."

Nesbitt leaned in to look at the text message.

_So they got me. Don't start celebrating yet, Johnson. My silent partner_

_is still at large, and you won't catch him as easily. I hope he succeeds_

_in killing all of your friends and leaving you alive to suffer!_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Nesbitt was still staring at the message when Lector and Evangeline came into the room.

"What is it?" Lector frowned.

"It's bad," Nesbitt growled. "A parting gift from that madman the police arrested."

Lector and Evangeline walked over to look. "Oh no," Evangeline gasped.

Lector narrowed his eyes. "Is this silent partner the one who broke in the house and hurt Mr. Ishtar?"

"Most likely," Johnson moaned. "But who could he be? And why did he attack the Ishtar boy? If it was because he was caught coming out of the wardrobe, why was he coming out of it in the first place?"

"I guess it's possible he didn't know what room he was coming out in," Lector said, "although I find it unlikely."

"There's just too much going on here," Evangeline ranted, her hands on her hips.

"And just what _are_ you doing down here, Johnson?" Nesbitt asked.

"I came to find you and Lector," Johnson said. "Then I noticed the message while checking to see if either of you left a message. He must have sent it right before he had to give up his phone at the police station."

"Gansley and Crump are still in the attic?" Lector asked.

"Yes," Johnson said. "I think they're about to give up, though." He slumped back. "What are we going to do?"

"I'm calling an exorcist," Evangeline insisted. "I know it won't help with the living person problem, but clearing out the ghosts would give me a great deal of peace of mind. Then we should go over every inch of this house to find all possible secret passageways. If we can figure out how this person is getting in, we can block it off."

"I'll start right now," Nesbitt volunteered, and started knocking on the wall.

Lector lingered, regarding Johnson in concern. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yes . . . I guess so," Johnson said. "I'll help too. I have to do something or I'll go insane." He crossed the room to the opposite wall and started testing it for secret springs or levers.

Evangeline was picking up the phone and taking it into the hall, away from the knocking. "Hello? I need an exorcism performed on my house," she was saying into it.

Lector shook his head, sighed, and closed and locked the French doors leading outside.

xxxx

Gansley pushed another box out of his way as he, Crump, and the others lingering in the attic continued to explore the strange space. There wasn't really much room for walking, as most of the attic was taken up by tables and stacks of boxes both on the tables and on the floor.

"You know something?" Crump hissed under his breath. "The longer we're here, the more I feel something. And I've gotta say, I don't like it."

"I can't say I care much for it either," Gansley said.

"Looks like most of the group is giving up by now too," Crump said. "Maybe they're going to see how the kid is. I wonder if Johnson found Lector and Nesbitt."

"Let's hope so," Gansley said.

As they came back to the door, Gansley pushed it open and looked down the stairs to the third floor. Crump followed, peering over the older man's shoulder. "So, are we going back down or what?"

"Why not?" Gansley shrugged. "I doubt there's much more we can accomplish up here, if anything. Aside from finding that poor boy, this entire experience seems to have been a waste of time."

Crump looked around the attic. "Hey, we're leaving," he called. "Is anyone still up here besides us?" No one answered, and he had to hope that despite the floor's immense size, he would be heard all across it since it was one big room.

Gansley headed down the stairs, his cane clicking as it connected with each one. Crump chased after him, but stopped and stared when they reached the third floor. "Uh . . . does anything look out of place to you?" he asked.

Gansley studied the third floor hallway with a deep frown. "I don't remember it looking like this at all when we were here before," he objected. "All the rooms are suddenly out of order and I don't see the stairs leading down anywhere."

"But that's impossible!" Crump cried.

"Crump, right now I don't know what's impossible and what's not," Gansley retorted. He took out his phone. "No Signal," he growled in disgust.

"What the heck are we gonna do?!" Crump panicked.

"I'm sure you're doing exactly what the spirits want," Gansley pointed out. "Let's just stay calm and explore. This has to be some kind of optical illusion. Perhaps if we visualize the way the floor actually looks and insist on treating it as though it looks that way, we'll break the spell and be set free."

"And what if we're not?! We could be trapped here for ages!" Crump wailed.

"Let's worry about that later." Gansley's voice had gained an edge. "As an accountant, you know how to be logical and practical. Put those skills to use!"

Crump took a deep breath. "Okay, you're right. I'll try not to let the ghosts get to me. I'll think about the way the floor's supposed to look. . . . There's a plant over there. . . . Uh . . . some kind of random room with white sheer curtains over there. . . ."

"A sun room," Gansley grunted.

". . . Hey, doesn't this house have a widow's walk roof?" Crump suddenly remembered.

"Yes, but Evangeline didn't want us to go up there," Gansley said. "She said the stairs leading up to it were rickety."

"What if that was, you know, another excuse, like with the North wing?" Crump said.

"You mean, maybe it's haunted and she didn't want us up there because of that," Gansley grunted. "I suppose it's possible, but when we're trying to draw out the spirits now, you'd think she would have broke down and mentioned it."

"Maybe we should go back up, find the stairs, and get on the roof," Crump said. "Then we could start screaming for help."

"For that matter, we could do that right here," Gansley said.

"Yeah. . . ." Crump turned to look back the way they had come anyway. "Gansley!" he boomed. "The attic stairs are gone!"

"What?!" Gansley looked too. Indeed, now there was only a blank wall. "Bah! It has to be an illusion!" He stormed over and felt around with his cane. He only touched thin air.

"They're really gone!" Crump exclaimed. "We're gonna be trapped up here forever!"

Gansley was badly shaken by this point himself. But still he insisted, "We're not going to be trapped, Crump. Let's forget the attic and just start walking here. Sooner or later we'll unravel this nonsense."

Crump wasn't sure at all, but he walked with Gansley up the hall. "You know, this is like stuff Noa could do in his world," he said.

"Yes, only this is the real world," Gansley countered. "Which makes it far more baffling."

Crump certainly didn't disagree.

xxxx

Seto roamed the strange area behind and underneath Marik and Rishid's wardrobe as soon as he found a rope. There really didn't seem to be much to see, which only bewildered and annoyed him even more. What could be the point of such a strange space?

"Seto?" Mokuba called, obviously distressed. "Is everything okay down there?"

"Fine," Seto called back. "How's Marik?"

"Still not awake," Mokuba sighed.

Seto sighed and walked underneath the stairs, then paused. There was a dark green strongbox in a corner, similar to the one they had found in Gozaburo's bedroom but much older. He bent down, lifting it out. It wasn't heavy at all, so if it was holding the mysterious family treasure, it must be an unusual one. Maybe it was empty. But it was locked, and would an empty box be locked?

"How far does that space stretch out?" Mokuba asked.

"It's only the width of the bedroom," Seto said. "It's probably different from the space in Nesbitt and Johnson's room." He walked back out. "I'm coming up."

"Okay." Mokuba backed away from the wardrobe and went back to Marik's bedside. In a moment, Seto climbed up on the rope, the strongbox under one arm. "What's that?"

"I have no idea," Seto said matter-of-factly. "I'll show it to Lector or Evangeline."

Marik groaned, finally beginning to return to consciousness. His siblings and Mokuba immediately perked up.

"Marik!" Ishizu exclaimed.

"Brother, how are you feeling?" Rishid asked.

Marik raised a hand to his forehead. "Not very well," he mumbled.

"What happened?!" Mokuba cried. "Marik, we found you in a secret passageway in the attic!"

"What?" Marik looked up at him, then frowned as the memories began to return. "That's right . . . I saw this man coming out of the wardrobe and I chased him through it and up some stairs. He had a rope he'd tied from the stairs' railing to the wardrobe. At the top, he suddenly ambushed me and shoved a cloth over my face." He scowled.

"That creep," Mokuba spat.

"Did you see what he looked like at all, Brother?" Ishizu queried.

"No," Marik sighed. "He was dressed all in black, including wearing a ski mask over his face."

"Are you even sure it was a man?" Seto wondered.

"I'm sure," Marik grunted. He squinted at Seto. "What's that box?"

"I don't know," Seto said. "I found it in the secret passage behind your wardrobe. I'm going to show it to Lector and Evangeline."

"Good luck," Marik said, leaning deeper into the pillows.

"I'll tell the doctor you're awake," Seto added. He headed out the door.

Mokuba smiled. "I'm really glad you're awake, Marik. I hope you won't have a headache for too long."

"Me too," Marik said, but managed a smile back.

Rishid was still troubled. "When you saw that man, Marik, did you try to wake me?"

". . . I called to you," Marik admitted, "but I couldn't linger to make sure you'd hear me. He was getting away and I felt I had to chase him."

"You probably couldn't have gone across on that rope anyway," Mokuba said slowly.

"Perhaps not, but I still wish I had awakened," Rishid said.

Marik looked to him. "It's alright, Rishid. You'll just have to focus on the fact that I will be okay."

"Yes," Rishid agreed. "I will try."

xxxx

Lector was worn-out from trying to find secret passages in the walls. Nesbitt and Johnson were still going at it, but Evangeline had gone off to prepare for the arrival of the exorcist. Lector still didn't know what he thought of that. He had heard that it often took many repeat cleansings to remove spirits by exorcism.

"Shouldn't the others be back from the attic by now?" he finally spoke.

"You'd think so," Nesbitt said.

As if on cue, Joey led a group into the room right then. "Hey, guys," he greeted. "Where's Gansley and Crump?"

Johnson jerked. "They're not with you?!"

"Nah. We thought they must've come down ahead of us," Joey said.

"Well, they're not here," Nesbitt said. "We were just wondering about them."

Lector headed for the doorway. "If they didn't come down, they must still be up there," he said. "I'm going back to try to find them."

"We'll come with you," Johnson said, immediately abandoning the wall. "I probably should have just stayed with them. . . ."

"Let's not just jump to the conclusion that something's wrong," Nesbitt objected. "They're probably fine."

"In this house, 'probably' isn't good enough," Lector retorted. "We have to be sure." He looked to Joey. "Oh, and you might want to be prepared, Mr. Wheeler. Evangeline has called in an exorcist. He's going to try to rid the North wing of its spirits."

"_WHAT?!"_ Joey yelped. "I don't wanna be here for that!"

Mai rolled her eyes. "Then what do you want to do, Joey? It's not like we have a lot of options."

"We could go into town," Joey said.

"I think that's a good idea," said Yugi, who had joined them when they had first come down. "I'm sure all of us could use a break from all the crazy things happening."

"Oh, you said it," Téa said. "But first we should make sure Marik's okay. He hadn't woke up when I looked in on them."

"Yeah, he probably won't be able to come with us," Tristan said. "I'm sure Kaiba would like to get Mokuba away from all of this, though."

"Mokuba won't leave Marik," Téa said.

"If Marik's awake, he'd probably encourage Mokuba to go," Duke said. "And he probably should. This place can really get you down after a while."

"Alright, let's check on Marik," Yugi said. "And maybe some of us should then go on to help find Gansley and Crump."

"We'll start looking for them right now," Lector said, moving towards the stairs.

It was a shock when they arrived on the third floor, intending to head for the attic, and found Gansley and Crump slowly making their way down the hall with Crump providing commentary on what the area was supposed to look like. Gansley occasionally chimed in with comments of his own.

"What are they doing?" Nesbitt frowned, raising an eyebrow.

"It's as if they think everything looks different and they're trying to piece together how it really looks," Johnson realized.

Lector ran over. "Gansley?! Crump?!"

The two walked right past him, seemingly not hearing.

Johnson was horrified. "Are they under a spell now too?!"

"I'm afraid that's a possibility," Lector exclaimed.

"So what can we do?" Nesbitt frowned.

"I suppose all we can do is follow them around and try to get through to them," Lector said.

"I should have stayed with them!" Johnson moaned.

"Then you'd just be under a spell too," Nesbitt pointed out.

"Even if that's technically true, I can't help still wishing I had been there," Johnson said.

"And we'd be just as upset," Nesbitt growled.

Lector felt overwhelmed. What were they going to do?

"Gansley! Crump!" he called again. "Listen to me! _Look_ at me!" He ran over, grabbing Crump's shoulder. "You feel that, don't you?!"

Crump flinched. "Who's there?!"

"It's me!" Lector cried in desperation.

"Gansley, I think one of those ghosts just touched me," Crump said in horror.

Gansley paused, taking in the feeling. "I don't think so," he said. "Calm down and pay attention. I don't feel anything dangerous or even silently watchful or curious. It feels . . . familiar and good." His eyes widened as the spell broke and the other three became visible.

". . . You're right," Crump acknowledged, to Lector's relief. Then he saw too. "Guys!" He grinned widely. "Aww, hey, it's great to see you! I'm sorry I thought you were a ghost, Lector. . . ."

"You apparently couldn't see or hear any of us," Lector said. "But what were you seeing?!"

"The whole place warped and changed!" Crump gestured wildly. "The rooms weren't in the same places and we couldn't see any stairs!"

"What a nightmare," Johnson gasped.

Nesbitt frowned. "Why could the spell over these two be broken so easily but the block over my memories only fades a little at a time?"

Gansley sighed. "We don't really know what happened to you, Nesbitt. But it was likely done by far more malevolent forces, since we were in the North wing at that time." He watched Nesbitt carefully, concerned that this might discourage him even more.

"What if I really don't want to remember?" Nesbitt worried.

"Of course you want to remember!" Lector cried in despair.

"You can't know that! None of you can know that!" Nesbitt finally boomed. He ran past them and up the stairs leading to the attic.

"Nesbitt!" Lector called after him, but in vain.

"What the heck's he doing?!" Crump exclaimed.

"He needs some time alone," Gansley frowned, "but that's not the best place to seek it."

"So who goes after him?!" Crump wondered, apparently not sure if Lector doing it was the best idea.

"I'll go," Gansley said.

"What if the ghosts try to warp your perception of reality when you come back down?" Johnson worried.

"Then we'll have a problem and Nesbitt will only feel even more guilty," Gansley said. He started up the stairs.

xxxx

Nesbitt had found the stairs leading to the roof. They didn't seem at all rickety, as Evangeline had told them, so he went up and through the door, leaving it open behind him. He wouldn't be long, but he badly needed to clear his head somehow.

The roof had been fixed for people to enjoy time there; a table and chairs, complete with large umbrella, adorned one corner. Nesbitt walked over to the balcony railing and looked down at the front yard. Everything looked peaceful, but a car was pulling in at the driveway. As Nesbitt watched, a priest got out and headed for the porch. Evangeline's exorcist, no doubt.

Nesbitt sighed and turned away, not wanting to be spotted and mistaken for one of the ghosts or thought to be spying. Instead he sank to his knees. "Oh God, why don't I remember him?" he cried in despair. "He's been nothing but kind and patient with me, even though we don't always get along, and I just can't remember our friendship! I only remember little insignificant things and times when I hurt him! How can things really be the way he and the others say when I can't remember any of it? And if they are, what kind of friend am I to not be able to remember?! What if I don't appreciate him and that's why I can't remember?"

"That's not true."

Nesbitt started and turned. Gansley was standing in the doorway to the roof, regarding Nesbitt sadly but firmly.

"You care about Lector so much, Nesbitt. You definitely appreciate him."

"Then why don't I remember him?!" Nesbitt screamed, getting to his feet. "Why did the spell over you and Crump break so easily?!"

"It wasn't the same kind of spell," Gansley insisted. "It wasn't as strong. The only kind of spell that could possibly keep you from remembering your friendship with Lector would have to be incredibly strong and dangerous. And even at that, it isn't holding you. I know it isn't feeling like it to you, but you _are_ remembering things. In a way, you do remember what it's like to be with him and care about him. You feel completely safe with him, and you felt that all on your own, without any of us prompting you."

"How can you be so sure that's what it is?!" Nesbitt demanded.

"Because I _do_ remember," Gansley insisted. "The rest of us aren't under a spell."

"Maybe you are," Nesbitt countered. "Maybe all of you only think Lector means something to me and I'm the one who remembers the truth!"

"That wouldn't explain your memories trickling back," Gansley pointed out. "Think, Nesbitt! Think about how you feel when you're around Lector! Would you feel so completely safe if he wasn't your friend?"

"The memories trickling back could be part of the spell over me!" Nesbitt said. "Maybe we're all being deceived!"

Gansley couldn't hide the pain that flickered in his eyes. "Is that what you truly believe?"

Nesbitt looked away despondently. "I don't know what to believe."

"Then afford us a bit of trust," Gansley said. "Acknowledge that if we're right, we remember what you don't."

"You don't know how hard this is," Nesbitt snarled. "You don't know what it's like to remember every aspect of your life except one! I can't make sense of it, so I try to think of every possibility and reason for it there could be. I just find it so hard to believe that magic or some other supernatural force could do this!"

"So do I," Gansley admitted, "but it makes more sense than the alternative.

"You're right, I don't know how hard it is for you. But I know it's tearing your and Lector's hearts apart. And it's tearing the rest of our hearts to watch you and feel so helpless to do anything."

Nesbitt clenched a fist. "I want to remember," he said hopelessly. "More than anything, I just want to remember! . . ."

"And I believe you will," Gansley said. "Maybe this . . . _ahem . . ._ exorcism will even help with that. But even if it doesn't, your memories _are_ coming back, little by little. And since they are, that means eventually they will all return."

"I guess," Nesbitt grunted.

"You're stronger than any magic spell," Gansley said. He drew an arm around Nesbitt's shoulders. "Meanwhile, I would like to know why Evangeline said the stairs up here were rickety when they were not. Why don't we go in and ask?"

Nesbitt nodded. "Alright."

At that moment, a bizarre wave of energy knocked them both off their feet and to the roof. "What on Earth?!" Gansley yelled.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

The outlandish event was over in the next moment, leaving Gansley and Nesbitt floored and their worried friends running up the stairs to the roof.

"What the heck's going on?!" Crump exclaimed. "Are you guys alright?!"

"Yes," Gansley growled, sitting up and grabbing for his cane.

"You felt it too?" Nesbitt grunted. He got up and stood by, waiting to see if Gansley needed assistance standing.

"We sure did," Lector frowned.

Gansley pushed himself up without help. "I wonder if that's the spirits' way of telling us they're very displeased with the attempt to exorcize them," he said dryly, not even sure he was kidding. "Either that or it's the reason Evangeline didn't want anyone to go on the roof."

"The exorcist is here," Nesbitt said. "I saw him pull up several minutes ago."

Gansley sighed. "Well, let's go downstairs and see what's happening with everyone else."

The others agreed, and they quickly departed from both the roof and the attic. To their relief, the third floor was not warped to any of their eyes this time and they managed to get to the ground floor without incident.

"What's going on?" Lector asked of Seto, who was standing near the open doors to the North wing.

"Evangeline's priest is trying to get rid of all the ghosts," Seto grunted, clearly not looking impressed. "They refuse to go."

"How is Mr. Ishtar?" Lector asked, disturbed by the news yet not wanting to dwell on it.

"He's awake. Mokuba's still in with him," Seto said. "Joey wanted to leave before the exorcism got underway, but none of them made it out yet." He gripped his arms. "I found a strongbox in the secret room behind Marik and Rishid's wardrobe. Evangeline has no idea what it is or how to open it."

"And we discovered the stairs up to the roof are not rickety as she claimed," Gansley said.

Seto shrugged. "You're welcome to ask her about it, but she's with the priest."

Lector jerked. "She's in the North wing?!"

"Yeah," Seto said.

Nesbitt growled. "You want to go in after her, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Lector retorted.

"I'm sure she's safe with the priest," Gansley said.

"When the ghosts won't leave, can you guarantee that?" Lector shot back.

". . . No," Gansley admitted. What really could he guarantee in this place?

Lector didn't wait for anyone else to protest. He ran through the doors into the cursed wing.

"Lector!" Gansley called. He growled. Naturally Lector would go in after his sister. He would feel just the same if it was one of them. And either way, they of course had to go in after him.

Seto grunted as they all ran past. Then he turned away. He had no intention of watching an exorcism. This would be a perfect time to instead investigate the space behind Nesbitt and Johnson's wardrobe. But since he didn't know how far the drop was, he would go find a few others to be on hand.

xxxx

Lector didn't have to run far to find his sister. Evangeline was standing near the bottom of the stairs, watching as the priest performed the ritual. The anger of the spirits was all around them, pulsating, almost tangible in the air.

"This is just freaky," Crump gulped, gripping Gansley's arm.

This time Gansley didn't shoo him off. He was disturbed himself.

"Maybe you shouldn't be here, Nesbitt," Johnson worried. "They hurt you once; they could easily do it again!"

"As if I'd leave all of you here to deal with it without me," Nesbitt retorted.

"It doesn't look like it's gonna work this time anyway," Crump said.

"That's right," Lector agreed. "Evangeline, you shouldn't be here. The priest is used to evil spirits, but you're not. Please, come out of here with us."

Evangeline looked over at him. "I'm sorry, Démas. I refuse to let myself be bullied by these spirits any longer." She clenched a fist. "They're ruining my home and hurting you and everyone else. And I'm going to stand right here while they're banished forever!"

"But sometimes it takes months of exorcisms before it even works," Lector said.

"And why did you say the stairs to the roof were rickety when they're not?" Crump demanded.

Evangeline looked away. "There's a ghost story rumor about the roof. When we were on the tour, I didn't know if it was true and I didn't want to chance anyone seeing the ghosts. But maybe that story really isn't true; I haven't caught any glimpse of them."

"Where in this house isn't there a ghost rumor?" Nesbitt muttered sarcastically.

Gansley frowned at Evangeline. "Since we've been trying to draw out the ghosts, why wouldn't you have mentioned it?"

Evangeline still wasn't looking at him. "I'd rather not talk about it here, with the priest and all. . . ."

Lector sighed. "Alright then. It can wait."

They all stood by, watching as the ritual continued.

xxxx

Yami Bakura watched as Seto shined his flashlight into the space behind Nesbitt and Johnson's wardrobe. "Well?" he asked, somewhat boredly.

"It definitely goes down farther," Seto said. "I think the bottom is on the basement level." He straightened, beaming the light on the pipe. "As for this thing, it snakes along until it curves up near the wall."

"And you're going to try going down there?" Bakura said in concern. In his arms, Oreo meowed.

"We need to know if there's anything of significance down there, and I don't know how to access it from the bottom," Seto pointed out. "This may be the only entrance."

"Be careful," Bakura implored.

"I'm surprised you're not watching the priest," Seto grunted.

Yami Bakura shrugged. "Bakura was afraid I'd have too much of a mocking attitude and break the mood, even if I didn't actually say anything."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Seto said dryly. He secured the rope on one end and wrapped the other around his waist. "I'm going in."

They watched as Seto descended into the hole. The rope uncoiled more and more, and was more than halfway into the space by the time Seto hit the bottom.

"Anything down there?" Bakura called.

"Dust and cobwebs," Seto grunted. He started walking, shining the flashlight in front of him. It was quite bare aside from the pipes. He could hear them groaning and creaking all around him, and he didn't try to suppress a smirk. Joey would probably think all the sounds were most certainly more ghosts.

He was still down there when he heard footsteps in the room above him.

"Well, the priest is gone," Evangeline sighed. "He said he'll come back tomorrow and try some more. Has Mr. Kaiba found anything?"

"Not that we're aware of," Yami Bakura grunted.

"I guess I'll try to open this strongbox he found and see if there's anything interesting in it," Evangeline said.

Seto had decided there was nothing of value in the hole and was preparing to come back up as Evangeline started to work on opening the strongbox. He only noticed the very old and yellowed piece of paper fallen near the wall when he turned to start back up. Frowning, he picked it up and shined the light on it. It seemed to be part of a letter. He stuffed it in his pocket and grasped the rope. He would give it to Evangeline at the top.

When he arrived, the Bakuras and the Big Five were all gathered around Evangeline as she fought with the lock on the strongbox. "None of these keys work," she frowned, "and I don't know how to pick locks. . . ."

"Allow me," Yami Bakura smirked. He came forward and studied the lock. "That should be simple enough. Do you have a bobby pin?"

"A safety pin," Evangeline said slowly, taking it out of her bandanna.

Yami Bakura took it and set to work on the lock. Before long it clicked and he lifted the lid. "There."

Curious, Evangeline peered into the box. "There's some old papers in here," she announced. "Maybe letters. . . ."

"Maybe this also belonged in there," Seto said, taking the paper out of his pocket. "It was on the floor down there."

Surprised, Evangeline took and unfolded it. "It looks like part of a letter our grandmother was writing," she exclaimed.

"To whom?" Lector asked, also surprised.

"To her brother," Evangeline said. "In fact, she's describing what happens on the roof. She sounds terrified."

By now everyone else was starting to trickle into the room, realizing that the priest had left and wondering how things had gone. When they realized they were stumbling in on something interesting and potentially important, they stayed quiet to listen.

"The reason why I didn't like to talk about it when the priest was here is because . . . well . . ." Evangeline sighed and looked away. "The ghosts on the roof, when they show up, are supposed to re-enact a murder that took place there."

"_WHAT?!"_ Joey screamed. "What _hasn't_ happened here?!"

Nesbitt frowned. "You've certainly kept a lot of secrets. I thought you'd finally come clean when you told about the North wing and the watching ghost."

Evangeline suddenly fell back in horror. "Everything's my fault," she gasped. "If I'd been honest with all of you from the start, you wouldn't have come here. Then all of these horrible things wouldn't have happened!"

"Evangeline, no," Lector immediately said. "It's true that maybe some of us wouldn't have come if we'd known beforehand, but I still would have, and then the others would have come as well. You can't blame yourself!"

Evangeline managed a weak smile. "You've always been such a good brother, Démas. It's tragic that the rest of the family refuses to see that you never abandoned them."

Nesbitt grunted. "What about this murder on the roof? Didn't you know about it too?" He looked to Lector. "And if you didn't, why not?"

"Nobody was supposed to know about it," Evangeline said. "I only know because Grandmother was talking about it one time when I visited her. Mother insisted it was all nonsense and that I was forbidden to talk about it with anyone. I actually forgot about it until we moved in here. . . ."

"Did you actually see the ghosts?!" Téa asked in alarm.

"No," Evangeline said. "If I had, I'm sure I would have warned everyone to stay away. I was just desperately hoping Grandmother was having a delusion."

"So what does the letter say?!" Crump demanded.

"We're probably better off not knowing," Tristan said.

"We should know," Yami Bakura retorted. "There might be a clue as to what all the madness in the house is about."

"That's a good point," Lector said with a nod.

"The letter talks about Grandmother sneaking up to the roof one night when she couldn't sleep," Evangeline said, looking down at it again. "She saw two transparent people apparently arguing. She could see their mouths moving, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. Then the woman pushed the man hard against the railing. It broke and he fell. Grandmother ran downstairs screaming and had nightmares for weeks."

"I'm gonna have nightmares right now!" Joey exclaimed.

"Did she really mean to kill him?!" Téa gasped. "Maybe she was horrified when the railing broke."

"Grandmother didn't stay to see her expression," Evangeline said. "She was five."

"Whoa. Tough," Tristan frowned. He looked to Yami Bakura. "I feel _real_ educated now."

Yami Bakura ignored his sarcasm. "We should try to see them arguing ourselves," he determined. "We might be able to discern clues that a child could not."

"They don't come out every night," Evangeline said. "I'm not sure what does make them come out. If they always showed up on a certain day, you could figure it was when he got killed." She looked down at the stack of papers in her hands. "I'd like to look at these letters from the strongbox. I'll let you know if there's anything important or helpful in them."

"Good luck," Nesbitt grunted as she hurried out of the room.

". . . You know," Tristan said when she left, "it really is her fault, at least a little bit. She should have told us all of this stuff, even if she didn't believe in it."

Lector frowned at him. "She would have if she'd had any inkling that we were in danger. In fact, if she'd realized that, she would have begged us not to come and to find a hotel instead."

"Maybe we should," Joey shuddered. "Every few minutes, this place gets more and more creepy!"

"We can't leave our friends!" Téa protested. "You know the Big Five would stay here, and some of the others would stay with them, like Mokuba."

"Mokuba would leave if I insisted," Seto said flatly.

Mokuba looked down. He didn't want Seto hurt, that was for sure. Marik had already been hurt; none of them were safe unless they could find how their assailant kept getting in.

"Actually, I'm thinking we should try to convince Evangeline to leave," Gansley said. "She and Angelique can come to a hotel with us until all of this is straightened out."

"And what if it's not fixed by the time we have to leave?" Lector said, an edge creeping into his voice. "Evangeline doesn't want to leave New Orleans, and Angelique has to stay here with her restaurant business. I was afraid bringing in an exorcist would only make things worse!"

"Well, people don't always get what they want, now, do they," Nesbitt growled. "Maybe Evangeline will just have to suck it up and come to Domino City with us. Angelique can move back into her old house."

"If it was big enough for two people, they could both go there," Lector sighed, "but it was barely big enough for one."

"Everyone, we mustn't argue!" Atem suddenly cried. "If we can't stay united, our enemies—both living and dead—will have won!" When everyone stopped yelling and looked to him, he continued, "I would say that the ghosts aren't the most concerning problem here. As long as the North wing is kept closed, the dangerous ghosts don't bother anyone. The other ghosts may be disconcerting, but they haven't done anything to harm anyone."

"Or help anyone," Joey muttered.

"What we need to worry about the most is how the living people are entering this house," Atem said. "We all got distracted by the arrival of the exorcist, but we should get back to scouring this house for any and all secret passages. If we can find and block the way that the living people are getting in, we should be safe."

"The Pharaoh is right," Yami Bakura grunted.

"Maybe Evangeline will find something about the other passageways in those letters," Serenity hoped.

"Maybe," Lector agreed. "But we should be looking on our own anyway. It could take her an hour or two to go through all those letters."

Everyone consented, albeit some reluctantly, to resume the search for secret passageways. Duke, Serenity, and David found themselves searching downstairs in the entryway and living room.

"Would anyone really put a secret panel here?" David said skeptically.

"You wouldn't think so, and that's why there might be one," Duke retorted.

". . . I guess that logic makes sense," David mused.

They jumped a mile when the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Should we answer it or find Evangeline or Angelique?" David wondered.

Duke was looking through the peephole. "We should answer it." He unlocked the door and hauled it open. "Snakes!"

Serenity immediately ran over. "You really made it!" she beamed, truly happy to see him despite being worried about the possible dangers he might encounter.

"I went right to work asking Mr. Marcus if I could take my vacation now," Snakes drawled. He came in carrying a heavy suitcase and just stood in the entryway, staring around at the furniture, walls, and ceiling. "I'll be. . . . It looks almost exactly like it did back then. . . ."

"That must be a surreal experience," David said.

"To say the least," Snakes said.

Some of the others were wandering over, drawn by the sound of the doorbell. As Lector approached, Snakes took one look at him and paled. "Ismael?" he whispered. He shook his head in the next instant. "Forgive me; you look so much like him. . . ."

Lector stared at him. "You really are my great-great-grandfather's business partner?" he gasped.

"I sure am, or was, or whatever you want to call it," Snakes said.

"We're really happy you came, Snakes," Serenity said.

Duke nodded. "It's been too long." He hesitated. "I just hope you won't regret coming here. There was another incident today with someone getting hurt and we're desperately trying to locate all the secret passageways to keep it from happening again."

"Not to mention we learned about some ghosts re-enacting a murder scene on the roof," David intoned as he adjusted his glasses.

Snakes cringed. "I'll make a note of that."

"So does this mean Gansley's going back to his room?" Crump wondered. "Now he'll have someone to share it with. . . ."

Gansley looked Snakes up and down, while Snakes was likewise scrutinizing him. "I suppose we can make it work," Gansley said. "I'm not difficult to share a room with."

"Me either, Sir," Snakes stammered. "I just flop down and go to sleep, pretty much. . . ." He gestured to demonstrate, then turned to look awkwardly at Duke. "Well . . . if you're all looking for secret panels, I could help. Maybe being back here will help me remember something about where more of them are."

"That'd be great," Duke said. He smiled. He was worried on the one hand for Snakes to be there, but maybe nothing would go wrong. He certainly hoped not; he was glad for his other friend to have come.

xxxx

One of those who hadn't heard the doorbell and gone up was Atem, who was searching the basement as promised. He went over the area Marik and Mokuba had explored before and then continued by examining the rest. He wasn't afraid to be down there alone after all he had seen through the millennia, but he did feel tense and on guard. The hammock was rocking again, just as Marik and Mokuba had reported, and Atem decided to be congenial and see if the occupant would help.

"Hello," he greeted. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to be down here for a while, checking for a secret passageway or two."

The hammock just continued to rock.

"I'll try not to disturb you," Atem said.

He checked all of the old shelves, hoping desperately that something would open up. When that failed, he went back the other direction and veered to the right to look in the bedrooms and the bathroom that Marik and Mokuba hadn't tried to examine.

There was definitely a presence; Atem could feel it watching him as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom. This was a newer part of the house, having been built on later, but the ghosts seemed to like it just as much as the older parts. Ignoring the feeling, Atem went in and rummaged through the cupboards for clues or levers. One cupboard next to the tub featured a mermaid carved on the door. _How oddly appropriate, considering the siren in the pool,_ he thought.

Finding nothing of consequence, he moved on to one of the bedrooms. It, too, was filled with a presence, silently watching as he roamed through the space and checked for things of interest.

As he worked, he pondered on the mystery. _Could_ Noa be involved, somehow? It was true that he was the only person besides Johnson who knew what Johnson had said. But maybe Evangeline was right and that man had seen into the past via some magical object. Either way, Atem doubted he would be forthcoming with answers if asked.

He pulled open a drawer in a nightstand, and a picture at the back of the drawer jerked into view from the motion. Lector's father, standing with his wife and children—including Lector—and another, older woman. The great-grandmother, perhaps?

Atem's gaze bored into the image of Mr. Leichter for a long moment as his thoughts wandered. Such a corrupt, uncaring father. . . .

"Oh no!" he gasped. "It can't be!" He threw the picture down and immediately turned to the door. "I have to get back upstairs and warn the others!"

The door slammed shut.

"Hey!" Atem ran over, rattling the knob in desperation. It was stuck and he was trapped.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Yugi was still hard at work on the silverware puzzle when his phone rang. He blinked, looking to it in surprise. "Hi, Atem," he greeted as he answered. "What's up?"

"Yugi, I'm locked in a bedroom in the basement," Atem exclaimed.

"What?!" Yugi was stunned. "How did that happen?!"

"I don't know if it was a living person or a spirit that locked me in, but I figured out how that enemy of Johnson's learned what he said. There was one other person who . . ." The line went dead.

"Hello?! Atem?!" Yugi leaped away from the counter, his eyes wide in alarm.

"Yugi, what is it?" Téa asked, coming to the doorway.

"I don't know, but Atem is in trouble!" Yugi cried. "We have to get to him right now!" He ran for the basement door.

Téa chased after him. "What trouble?! Yugi, what's going on?!" Her heart thumped wildly in her chest. Atem wasn't infallible, of course, especially now that he had a chance to live a mortal life with the rest of them, but it was still hard for her to picture him getting in trouble with the spirits in this house or the living people who were causing trouble.

"I was talking to Atem on the phone," Yugi explained as they clattered down the stairs. "He said he'd been locked in the basement in a bedroom and that he'd figured out how that guy knew what Johnson said to Noa. Then we got cut off."

"But if he's locked in, shouldn't we get Evangeline?!" Téa protested. "She has the keys!"

"I just wonder who else might have the keys," Yugi said under his breath. Louder he said, "If a ghost locked him in, they wouldn't need the keys!"

"Oh, that's true," Téa moaned.

They reached the bottom and Yugi ran towards the bedrooms. "Atem?!" It wasn't hard to find the locked door, and he pulled and tugged on the knob in desperation. "Atem, are you in there?!"

"I think I should go get Evangeline," Téa said, and she turned to run back to the stairs.

A dark shape started to materialize in front of her, coming closer and closer. "Going somewhere?" a rough voice intoned. "I'll just have to stop you!"

Téa fell back in horror. "No way!"

Yugi turned to stare. "It's you!" he cried.

"Yes, and I can't allow you to tell anyone else. Not just yet. They'll find out soon enough." The dark form enveloped them both.

xxxx

Lector made his way to the doorway of Evangeline's room. He was planning to tell her about the new arrival, but instead, he found her just setting down the last page of the last letter in the strongbox. She looked troubled.

"Evangeline? What is it?" He entered, his eyes flickering in concern.

She looked up. "Oh, Démas. . . ." She blinked back tears. "Our family is such a mess. The good ones never get treated right. . . ."

"Do you mean our grandmother?" Lector asked.

She nodded. "Her, and you, and Great-Grandmother . . . and even our great-great-grandparents. They were good people, and look at the horrors they had right in their house! There's nothing in these letters about the silent, watching ghosts, except for Grandmother talking about seeing the dark-haired lady going down the hall, but they talk about the North wing and having to keep it shut for everyone's safety, and Great-Great-Grandmother talked about the murder scene on the roof. . . . She thought it happened with the previous owners, but she wasn't sure."

Lector sighed and sat down next to her on the edge of the bed. It was hard to fault her for her bitter suspicions, although it was still sad to hear her talk like that after she had spoken in such glowing terms about their ancestors upon their arrival. "Did you find out anything about the other passageways?" he asked, trying to steer her mind to something more pleasant. "Or the family treasure?"

"Grandmother talked about having to hide the treasure so that only the people really deserving would get it," Evangeline said. "She said she hid it somewhere on the property and she left clues in these letters. Some are written by her, and some by Great-Great-Grandmother."

"So we'll need to go over them carefully and look for anything that could be a clue," Lector said.

Evangeline nodded. "I've been trying, but I just don't know," she sighed. "Maybe Yugi would have better luck with this than with the silverware."

"We can ask him," Lector said. He paused. "And Evangeline? If the North wing was haunted when our great-great-grandparents moved in, don't you think those spirits probably are connected with prior owners of the house?"

". . . I guess so," Evangeline said. "But the problem is, the only prior owners were people whose descendants became part of the family when they married into it. They were our mother's ancestors, so they're ours too."

"You're right," Lector conceded.

"Our family is such a mess," Evangeline moaned again.

"Maybe so, but we have the chance to change that," Lector told her. "There are good ancestors in our family, and we can honor them and make this family something to be proud of in future generations."

Evangeline smiled a bit. "Will you and I even have future generations?" she wondered. "You're married to your work and you're happy with your friends. . . . Sometimes I wonder if you don't lean asexual like Mr. Nesbitt."

"So does he," Lector said. "But even if I never marry, I'm sure you will someday. And hopefully Gabriel will also grow up to stay a decent person."

"I hope so," Evangeline said. "I'm certainly going to do my best to make sure he doesn't get corrupted."

"And I'm sure you'll succeed," Lector said firmly. "Now, why don't we take these letters and go find Yugi?"

Evangeline nodded and stood, setting the letters back in the strongbox. "Let's."

"By the way," Lector said as they headed for the door, "Mr. Tolliver is here. I still hardly believe it."

"Oh. . . ." Evangeline looked up at him. "We should ask him about our ancestors. Imagine! He knew them first-hand!"

"I hope he can help us find more secret passageways in the house," Lector said. "As much as I'd like to hear some positive things about our family, we need to solve this mystery first."

"You're right," Evangeline relented.

They were both stunned when they went downstairs into the kitchen and found Yugi and Téa woosily stumbling up from the basement. "What on Earth happened?!" Lector demanded.

Yugi blinked at him. "Huh? We don't really know."

"We both woke up laying on the floor," Téa added. "I don't even know what we were doing in the basement. . . ."

"Maybe you were checking on the Pharaoh?" Lector prompted. "As I recall, he was down there."

"Atem?" Yugi mumbled. "Nah, I think he went upstairs to bed. . . ." He sank down at the counter and crossed his arms on it before lowering his head on them. "I think I'll do that too. . . ."

"Something isn't right here," Evangeline gasped.

"They both act like they've forgotten something," Lector frowned. "Or rather, that they were made to forget."

"But I thought the only ghosts that could do that were in the North wing," Evangeline exclaimed.

"We still don't really know how or why Nesbitt forgot me," Lector said. "It might not have even been the ghosts in the North wing, even though it happened there."

Evangeline watched as Téa went to the table and slumped forward over it, laying her head directly on it. "Mr. Nesbitt didn't act like this when he woke up," she said in concern.

Before Lector could reply, a loud crash from the basement sent him running to the top of the stairs. "What's going on down there?!" he called. "Pharaoh Atem?! Are you there?!"

Atem appeared in a moment, the Infinity Puzzle glowing while he looked very frazzled. "Yes. . . . Are Yugi and Téa alright?!"

"I wouldn't say they're alright," Lector said slowly, and before he could finish, Atem charged up the stairs and stood staring at the scene.

"Neither of them remember what happened down there," Evangeline said. "Do you know?"

"I was locked in a bedroom," Atem said. "I'm sorry, but I finally had to break the door down to get out. I heard Yugi and Téa come down and try to help me, but something accosted them and they collapsed. When they came to, they couldn't seem to hear me calling to them and they apparently came up here." He ran over to Yugi.

"That's just like when we couldn't see Yugi and Mr. Nesbitt when we were running past them," Evangeline said in horror.

"So it _was_ the same force," Lector said darkly. "I'm sure of it!" He looked to Atem. "Did you find anything down there?"

"I'm afraid not," Atem said. "I was just going to give up when the door slammed."

"You were leaving and something trapped you for no reason at all?" Evangeline blinked.

"I know it doesn't make sense, but that's what must have happened," Atem said helplessly. "I didn't find anything." He started to lift Yugi up. "I'd better get Yugi to bed. . . ."

Yugi stirred, burrowing against Atem's shoulder. "Would you read me the story about the bunny?" he mumbled.

"What _is _this infamous story about the bunny?" Atem said, shaking his head.

Lector went over to Téa and carefully lifted her as well. Still mostly asleep, she threw an arm around his neck. "Atem . . . Kaiba . . ." she slurred.

Atem quirked an eyebrow but didn't comment.

Feeling very awkward, Lector said, "No, Miss Gardner, it's Lector."

"Hi, Lector," Téa smiled, still out of it.

"Yes, we'd better get them to bed immediately," Atem said.

Seto arrived in the doorway just as they were preparing to walk out. "What is this?!" he cried. "More people injured?!"

"I'm afraid so, Kaiba," Atem said. He walked past Seto and headed for the stairs. "Come up with us and we'll explain."

Seto listened to the explanation in growing distaste. "This is ridiculous," he snorted. "Who or what could have done this?!"

"I couldn't make out anything to help me identify who was attacking them," Atem said.

Evangeline suddenly froze. "You know, since Yugi and Téa forgot things, isn't it possible that you were made to forget something too?"

Atem stopped in the doorway of his and Yugi's room. "What?!"

"What if you really did find something down there and now you don't remember?" Evangeline persisted.

"Oh no," Atem said in horror. "If I've forgotten something, we may never find that information again!"

"How about we try going back down after you and Démas put our friends to bed?" Evangeline suggested. "Maybe we can find it again."

"I'm afraid that's unlikely, if someone went to so much trouble to keep that information from us," Atem said.

"I still say we should try," Evangeline said.

"Whatever it was that made them forget might only come out again," Lector pointed out as he carried Téa into her and Serenity's room. "I think we should keep looking for the other secret passageways."

"But that's what I was looking for downstairs," Atem said. "Maybe I found it."

"Mokuba had a theory that the ghosts in the North wing might be trying to protect the family treasure," Seto said. "That might be where the passageway leading to it is located."

". . . That's possible, I guess," Evangeline blinked, "but they shouldn't be guarding it from other family members."

"I don't advocate going in the North wing to look around," Lector said in concern.

"Me either," Evangeline assured him. "At least, not yet.

"You know, there's something else we could try," she mused. "Since I was sure the basement passage came out in the cemetery, we could go through the mausoleums and see if we could find it from that angle. We'd just have to remember which one had the passageway from the study in it."

"I like that idea better," Lector said.

Evangeline smiled. "Then let's try it. Maybe when we're done, Yugi will be feeling better and we can show him the letters."

"I had best stay with Yugi until he wakes up," Atem said. "Someone should stay with Téa too. . . ."

"I'll stay with her," Seto grunted. "There's no one else around right now; they're all looking for secret passageways."

"And coming to think of it, we could easily show you the letters, Atem," Evangeline said. She held out the strongbox. "There's supposed to be clues in them to where Grandmother hid the family treasure."

"I'll take a look," Atem said in surprise.

"Thank you," Evangeline smiled. "Now, let's go to the cemetery, Démas." She linked arms with her brother.

"Someone taking that out of context would wonder why anyone would be that excited to visit a cemetery," Seto deadpanned.

Evangeline waved him off.

xxxx

Atem frowned as he looked through the letters for the third time. He had written down everything that could potentially be a clue, but really, he felt Evangeline was the best one to work with this puzzle. She knew the house and the location of the rooms. He wondered too if they should talk to the grandmother in spite of Mrs. Leichter's warning. The woman might very well have some important clues, even if she didn't consciously realize they were clues. And she might not be as fragile as Mrs. Leichter seemed to think she was.

Yugi stirred, turning to face him. "Hi, Atem," he said with a sleepy smile.

"Hello, Yugi," Atem replied. "Are you feeling better?"

"I think so." Yugi sat up. "Was I pretty out of it?"

"I'm afraid so," Atem sighed. "And it looks like both of us and Téa were made to forget things."

"Oh no!" Yugi gasped. "What could we have forgotten?!"

"I may have learned something important in the basement, but now I don't remember," Atem said. "You may have learned it too, when you came looking for me."

"That's terrible!" Yugi cried. "Hey, is Téa okay?!"

"I think so," Atem said. "I believe she just needed to sleep it off, the same as you did."

Only now did Yugi see the letters. "What are you doing with those, Atem?" he asked in surprise.

"Evangeline gave them to me to see if I could find the clues that are supposed to be in them regarding the location of the family treasure," Atem explained. "We already know that it's supposed to be in the cemetery, so what I've been doing is writing down any instances of mentioning specific family members looking a certain direction or doing something in a certain part of the house. I figure we can then go to the cemetery, find their tombs, and see if there's anything important in the parts of the tombs that correspond with the direction mentioned."

"That's a great idea!" Yugi chirped.

"Yes, I think it should help," Atem admitted, pleased. "Now that you're awake, why don't we go try it out?"

"That's great with me!" Yugi got off the bed. "But we should check on Téa first."

"I agree," said Atem. "She may want to come with us."

xxxx

In the other room, Seto was finding it awkward to watch over Téa. He supposed she would be fine, but he wondered how much longer she was going to sleep. If she awakened, he imagined that she would rather someone else was with her instead of him. Then again, they had usually got along well ever since Seto had admitted that he finally considered her and the others as friends. That was a strange change, considering how rocky and antagonistic their relationship had been before that. Seto had to admit, however, that it was a nice change. He had never particularly enjoyed arguing with Téa. It was Joey whose goat Seto liked to get, and even at that, he preferred just teasing Joey rather than arguing with him.

He got up, idly wandering around the room. Téa and Serenity had likely checked it over thoroughly for secret passageways, so there probably weren't any in there. Still. . . .

He opened the wardrobe, moving the clothes aside as he felt the back of it. Solid.

"Kaiba?!"

He turned. Téa was awake, and regarding him in bewilderment. "What are you doing?!"

"Making sure we didn't miss something," Seto said brusquely. He shut the wardrobe. "Are you feeling better?"

". . . Yeah, I think so," she said in surprise.

"Great!" came Yugi's voice from the doorway.

Atem was there as well, and he looked to Seto. "I think I've figured out a possible series of clues in those letters," he said. "We're going to the cemetery to see if I succeeded."

"Go ahead," Seto said. "I should check on Mokuba. Maybe then I'll join you."

"Very well," Atem nodded.

Téa slowly got up. "Has a lot happened while I've been out of it?"

"I don't think so," Yugi said. "Although we don't know what's happening with anyone else. . . ."

"Hopefully nothing too serious," Atem said as they walked out of the room.

xxxx

Nesbitt had been looking for secret passageways in vain for some time with Johnson.

"You don't think it's possible that whoever's been causing trouble has been getting in through the North wing, do you?" Nesbitt said at last.

Johnson turned to stare at him. "The North wing is locked! . . . Oh. You mean maybe they enter the wing through a secret passageway from the outside and then get into the rest of the house through another one?"

"That's right," Nesbitt nodded.

"Surely you're not thinking of going in the North wing," Johnson said in horror.

"No, but maybe we should examine the wall on this side of it," Nesbitt said.

Johnson sighed. "I don't like it, but maybe you're right. Only . . . if we find a passageway, you won't plan to go in it, will you?"

"Let's see if we find one first," Nesbitt grunted. He walked over to that wall and started tapping it.

Johnson hesitated, looking at him. "Are you alright?"

Nesbitt wouldn't look at him. "I . . . want to do something right and help," he said haltingly. "I remember . . . on our last misadventure, I only caused pain. . . . And that's what's been happening now, as well."

"Nesbitt. . . ." Johnson stared. "Do you remember anything else?"

"The look in Lector's eyes. . . . I've caused it so many times. . . . And he still loves me." Nesbitt occupied himself by feeling across the wall.

". . . You think you hurt him the last time?" Johnson asked.

"I know I did," Nesbitt insisted. "That's all I really remember—the pain, and that look."

"You were hurting too," Johnson told him.

"That's not an excuse," Nesbitt growled. He hit the wall with his fist.

A panel suddenly ground open, swinging out an entire section of wall.

Johnson gaped at the space beyond. It led directly into the entryway of the North wing.

"Well," he said at last, "part of your theory is true."

"Now we just need to know if the other part is," Nesbitt added. "Unfortunately, we can't learn that without going in there."

Johnson swallowed hard. "I guess we'd better go then."

Nesbitt frowned. "I don't want you to put yourself in danger," he objected.

"And I don't want you to either," Johnson retorted. "If you insist on going, you won't be alone."

". . . Alright," Nesbitt relented. "Let's go."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Lector was tense as he and Evangeline wandered the small cemetery. So far they hadn't found any other secret passages, and Evangeline was bitter as they looked.

"I wonder how many of these people are the ones in the North wing," she said. "Maybe someone we've honored all through the years repaid us by hurting Mr. Nesbitt."

"We don't know that," Lector said, although it was impossible not to wonder.

"I used to be proud to be in this family," Evangeline said. "I can't feel proud anymore. I feel like changing the spelling of my last name like you did."

"Or you could keep it to show that not everyone with that family name is bad," Lector said gently.

"Yeah . . ." Evangeline said slowly.

"Hey!" Yugi suddenly called with a wave.

"Hello!" Evangeline called back. "Feeling better?"

"Great!" Yugi ran over with Atem and Téa. "Atem may have figured it out!"

Evangeline perked up. "Show us!"

Atem came over, holding his list. "First I organized the letters by date. Then I found the first possible clue when she talked about her mother facing West to enjoy the sunset every day. Her mother was still alive at that point, but I'm assuming a tomb had already been picked out?"

"Yes," Evangeline said.

"That's kind of a morbid practice," Téa shuddered.

"And a very ancient one," said Atem.

"We already tried that tomb, though," Lector said. "Are you suggesting we simply use that as a starting point?"

"Exactly," Atem nodded. "This is basically a map. Follow it to each checkpoint and at the end, if I've done it right, we should be able to find the treasure."

Everyone walked to the tomb in question and stood on the West side.

"Alright," Evangeline said. "Now what?"

"The next clue talked about her brother always liking to sit at the East side of the dining room table," Atem said.

"Isn't it a little weird that she's so specific about directions?" Téa said. "I mean, if we're not supposed to find anything until the end, who cares if we're standing on the East or West of a tomb?"

"That is strange," Atem admitted. "I'm still trying to figure that part out. I wonder if she could have broken the treasure up and a part of it is in each specific location."

". . . What if it's in the coffins?" Yugi suggested, although he cringed a bit as he said it. "Maybe we have to check the coffins positioned on those sides of the tombs."

"Gross!" Téa exclaimed in horror.

"Not to mention unsanitary," Lector frowned.

"Would that work, though?" Yugi wondered. "I mean, even if the tomb was picked, surely they didn't choose coffins until after the person was dead. . . ."

"It could be in the stand or the chamber that the coffin was placed on," Lector said.

"It's worth trying," Evangeline said. She walked up to the tomb and unlocked it. "I do know my great-grandmother's coffin is on the West side of this tomb. We can poke the stand's West side for a secret compartment."

"And hope Joey doesn't come out while we're doing this," Téa said wryly. "He wouldn't be able to deal with it." She bit her lip. "I'm not so sure I can either. . . ."

"It'll be okay, Téa," Yugi soothed. "Maybe we'll find something neat."

"Just as long as we don't find something creepy too," Téa retorted.

xxxx

Johnson was tense as he and Nesbitt stepped through the open wall into the North wing. "What if it closes up while we're in here and we can't get out?" he worried.

Nesbitt stiffened. That was certainly the last thing he wanted to have happen, especially when all he wanted was to be helpful. "We should either find a way to prop it open or text the others about what we're doing," he said.

"Or both," Johnson said. He grabbed a chair and placed it in the doorway, so that if the passage tried to swing closed it would be prevented.

Nesbitt frowned. "I don't want them all to worry. That should be good enough."

Johnson wasn't convinced. When Nesbitt went farther inside, he lingered and sent a text message to the other three.

_We found a secret passageway into the North wing that wasn't closed off._

_We're trying to see now if there's a passageway leading outside from the North wing._

_Nesbitt badly wants to do this to be helpful. You know how he's been lately._

_Please give us the chance to try to find the passageway, as like it or not, we really do_

_need to see if one's in here. If we're not back out within fifteen minutes, come check on us._

Then, drawing a deep breath, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and followed Nesbitt over to the other side of the entryway. He really didn't want to be here. Part of him wanted to turn and run. But he wouldn't. He certainly wasn't going to leave Nesbitt in here all alone.

Nesbitt was tapping along the walls when Johnson caught up with him. Johnson joined in, saying nothing for several minutes.

The feeling that they were unwelcome was there, of course. Johnson had felt it the moment they walked in, and he had to assume Nesbitt had too. It was only increasing the longer they stayed. Finally Johnson couldn't stand it any longer.

"Nesbitt, I really don't think we're going to find anything," he blurted. "We should leave before something else goes wrong."

"You should leave," Nesbitt retorted. He moved to the next outside wall and started tapping again.

Johnson frowned and walked around to be in Nesbitt's line of vision. "I made the mistake of worrying that all of you would leave me because of an impulsive lie I told in the past," he said. "You scolded me earlier, when you realized I wasn't thinking enough about my value to the rest of you. I hope you're not telling me that you think _you're_ of such little value that none of us would care if the ghosts hurt you again."

Nesbitt clenched a fist and dug it against the wall. "Of course not," he snapped. "I just . . . I guess I don't think they'll hurt me again."

"Maybe they'll hurt me instead," Johnson said.

"That's why you should leave," Nesbitt insisted.

"I won't leave," Johnson insisted.

He sighed as they reached the stairs. Nesbitt turned, looking around the stairs to the bedrooms. "I'm going to have to start in on those now."

Johnson's stomach dropped. "We didn't even go in any of the bedrooms before!" he protested. "We just stayed out here, and that was bad enough!"

"Yeah, well, now the bedrooms have to be checked," Nesbitt said. He headed towards the first one and walked inside without hesitation.

Johnson definitely did hesitate. But at last he drew a deep breath and followed his friend inside.

The rooms carried much stronger feelings than the entryway and corridor. Johnson could barely stand to stay in there. It was all he could do not to run screaming for the passageway. Nesbitt, on the other hand, was so determined to stay that he either ignored the feeling or honestly didn't feel it. When he finished going over the room, he walked back out and into the next one.

Johnson trailed after him. "Nesbitt, we shouldn't be here," he desperately protested. But he took a good look at the room as he spoke. It was interesting, how it looked like a perfectly preserved 19th Century room. It made sense, given that the North wing had been off-limits in the 1860s. And this room had a connecting door leading to the one next to it.

Nesbitt peered through it. "This room looks more like some kind of sitting room," he remarked.

Johnson cautiously went over to look. Nesbitt was right; that room featured old-style couches and even a harp in one corner, but no beds. They had apparently been too disturbed by the feelings to really notice before that this room wasn't a bedroom. Not that it really seemed to matter.

Or at least, it didn't until Nesbitt went in and found an outside door against the wall.

Johnson's jaw dropped. "Why didn't we notice that door outside?!"

Nesbitt tried the knob and found it unlocked. He pushed it open. "I'd say because it's completely covered in vines," he scowled.

Johnson slumped back. "So there probably isn't a secret passage in this wing that goes outside," he realized. "They're probably getting in through that door and then into the main part of the house through that secret passage we found."

"I'd say so," Nesbitt grunted.

"Nesbitt?! Johnson?!" Gansley and Crump were suddenly at the doorway. "Why on Earth are you still in here?!"

"Because we've solved a big part of the mystery!" Johnson exclaimed. "Look!" He pointed to the door.

Crump stared. "Well, whaddya know about that."

"Only now there's more questions," Nesbitt said. "Such as, has this door been unlocked since the 1860s? And if not, how did it get unlocked and how did the intruder first get in?"

"All good questions," Gansley nodded.

"And now I've got another one," Crump said. "Where's Lector? Why didn't he answer the text message too?"

"He was going to the cemetery," Gansley said. "Let's just go out this door and find him."

"Might as well," Crump shrugged.

They all trouped out the vine-covered door, Nesbitt pulling it shut behind them.

xxxx

Lector was quite busy trying to assist the others in checking for the secret compartments in the tombs. They had been searching the great-grandmother's tomb for some time without success, and by now a lot of the group was trickling out to join them. Of course, some were horrified by what they were doing.

"You're going through coffins?!" Joey shrieked.

"We're trying to see if there's a compartment in the coffin that has no contact with the body, Mr. Wheeler," Lector retorted.

"Or if there's anything in the stand or the wall," Téa added.

"Well, I guess that's a little bit better," Joey gulped. "But not by much!"

Yami Bakura walked past him. "If you want to find secret places in tombs, you should have called me," he smirked. He pressed a spot on the wall and a drawer popped open.

Everyone gawked.

"Hey, how'd you do that?!" Lector exclaimed.

"I _was_ a tomb raider in my day," Yami Bakura shrugged.

Evangeline rushed over. "Look at all these jewels!" she gasped, lifting out a handful of gems and necklaces.

Joey's eyes went even wider. "Well, that's a pretty good start on a family treasure," he breathed. "Who am I kidding?! That's a whole family treasure right there!"

Yami Bakura couldn't hide the gleam in his eye. Finding secret passages and treasures brought back memories from ancient Egypt that he enjoyed. Not that he planned to go back to his dubious and very illegal profession, but the nostalgia was pleasant.

If anyone else noticed his expression, they didn't comment.

"Apparently there's more treasure, according to their grandmother," Yugi said. He looked to Atem. "So, let's move on to the next tomb!"

Evangeline took off her bandanna and wrapped the jewels in it before they left. "That's strange, though," she mused. "Great-Grandmother's diary talked about one compartment with a family treasure. Now it seems like there's more than one?"

"Maybe she only knew about the one," Tristan shrugged.

"Maybe," Evangeline said.

"Just like you _did _know about a tragedy on the property even though you said you didn't when you were asked," Tristan added.

Evangeline looked down sadly. "All I knew was what Grandmother said about seeing the ghosts on the roof. I didn't really know anything had happened. I still don't, despite the scene on the roof and the siren in the pool. But I'm sorry I didn't mention the rooftop scene earlier. I wasn't even thinking about it because I wasn't sure it was even real."

"I think we have more important things to worry about right now," Lector interjected.

"I just hope nothing _else_ is being kept from us," Tristan scowled.

"It's not," Evangeline said.

"Only that's hard to believe now," Tristan said.

"Tristan, come on," Téa sighed.

"Well, he does have a point," Duke muttered.

"At least on this matter, Evangeline wasn't deliberately trying to keep anything from us," Lector pointed out. "She honestly didn't feel she knew anything had happened when all there was to go on were some vague comments made by our dear but confused grandmother."

"That does make sense," David said.

Tristan still didn't look happy. "I guess."

The confrontation might have continued if not for the fact that just as they all stepped outside, they nearly walked into the Big Four coming from the other direction.

"Lector!" Crump ran over. "What's up?! Why didn't you answer Johnson's text?!"

"A text?!" Lector took out his phone and brought up the messages. "I didn't hear it come in." He started when he saw it and looked to Nesbitt with a jerk. "You went in the North wing after you were hurt in there?!"

"It looked like that's where we needed to go," Nesbitt retorted. "And I was right! For once I actually did something useful; I found an unlocked door hidden by vines. Someone must be getting in that way!"

Evangeline gasped. "Oh no! Then it must be someone with a key!"

Lector was too upset to really focus on the new information. "And what if you'd been hurt again?!" he countered. "Or what if Johnson had been hurt?!"

"It was my choice to go with him, Lector," Johnson said. "He tried to encourage me not to."

Lector wasn't consoled. "Nesbitt, don't you know how much we care about you?! I know you don't remember how I feel, but the others . . . ! None of us want you going off and getting yourself hurt!"

"I know that!" Nesbitt snapped. "But I can't just sit around twiddling my thumbs and waiting for my memories to come back! I have to do something useful!"

"Not deliberately walking into danger is doing something useful!" Lector said. "But you just always have to be impulsive and reckless, don't you?!"

"I'm sick of you judging me!" Nesbitt finally yelled.

"You've judged me too," Lector blurted before he felt like stopping himself.

"Stop it, both of you," Gansley interjected. "You're both saying things you're going to regret later."

Nesbitt growled and turned away, too prideful to concede. Lector, however, knew Gansley was right. He approached the other man sorrowfully.

"Nesbitt, I'm sorry," he said. "Everything's been so stressful and I've been so worried about you. . . ."

"When did I judge you?" Nesbitt demanded. "I don't remember."

Lector rocked back. ". . . It was a while ago," he said. "You didn't really mean it; you were just upset. . . ."

"But obviously you're still hurt by it." Nesbitt finally turned to face him.

". . . It's hard not to be hurt by something like that, even if you logically know why it's happening," Lector said. "But I shouldn't have said that, especially now."

"I don't know why you care about me," Nesbitt said in disgust. "When have I ever done things right? When have I ever made you happy instead of hurt?"

"All the time," Lector insisted. "You're right—if we didn't have good times together, we wouldn't be able to weather the bad times. We trust and care about each other so much, Nesbitt!"

"It's hard to believe that when I don't remember," Nesbitt countered. "And when all the memories I get back are ones where I hurt you. All I get out of this is that I'm not someone worth loving. You've said I'm a fool because I'm impulsive and reckless. You're a fool for caring!" With that he stormed off through the cemetery.

"Nesbitt!" Lector called after him in vain. He fell back in horror, running a hand over his face. "What have I done?"

"You're both under such heavy stress right now," Gansley told him. "You've tried so hard to be patient, but eventually something would have to give way. I was upset when I got Johnson's text too. Had I immediately seen Nesbitt, I probably would have bawled him out myself. The only reason I didn't was because I had time to think things through before we found him."

"No," Lector retorted. "I'm sure you would have handled it better no matter what."

"Well, things can't be left like this," Crump exclaimed. "You've gotta go after him!"

"He thinks he's made everything worse. I don't see how I can make this situation better," Lector objected. "I'm the one who hurt him this time."

"Lector, you're hurting too," Crump retorted. "Thinking Nesbitt was running off into a situation where he'd get hurt again is a completely logical reason to blow up! It was just too much for you to take after everything else."

"But how do I ever convince him that he _is_ worth caring about?!" Lector said in despair.

"I don't know," Gansley admitted, his heart heavy. "Someone who has such a low opinion of himself can't easily be convinced otherwise. But this time it really does need to be you who goes after him."

Lector nodded. "I know." He looked to Evangeline. "Go ahead and keep collecting the treasure," he encouraged. "Once you have it all, we should take it to the bank and put it in your safety deposit box."

"Alright," Evangeline said softly. "Good luck, Démas. . . ."

"I need more than luck," Lector sighed. "I need a miracle."

xxxx

Lector had time to work out several possibilities of what to say as he wandered through the old family cemetery. Along the way, he also had flashes of long-ago memories of being here. He remembered exploring . . . macabre fascination. . . . The children weren't allowed to play in the cemetery, but looking around had always been encouraged.

"_Look, Démas," _he remembered his great-grandmother telling him, _"this tomb will be for several members of the family, including you someday. I hope not for many years."_

He had been 18 then, and though he had been told about the tomb many times, this was the first time it had been mentioned that it would be for him. It had seemed morbid, and he hadn't been terribly happy with being told about it when he had so many plans for his future. Still, the practical part of his mind had acknowledged that he needed to know.

He could see that tomb now, in his mind's eye, and as he rounded a corner, he saw it in real-life. Nesbitt was sitting on the stone ground, leaning against the side of it and glaring off into the grass. Lector took a deep breath and sat down next to him. Nesbitt didn't look over.

"When we first met, I didn't understand or like you much at all," Lector said. "We would both blurt things out when we were angry, but you would act on them as well. I could not begin to fathom such a reckless mind. But I appreciated your genius when it came to designing vehicles for the company, so I kept you on in spite of my personal feelings. When it came time to choose our board of directors, Gansley and I mutually agreed we wanted you."

Nesbitt slowly looked up. "Why? Just because I was good at designing things?"

"Not just because of that," Lector insisted. "We saw in you the potential for more."

"I wasn't even a team player," Nesbitt retorted.

"Gansley felt you could be," Lector said. "And I saw that you could be practical and logical, an odd contrast to your impulsive behavior. I had also seen that your interest in kendo was helping you to control your temper sometimes."

"It doesn't seem to have helped much with that lately," Nesbitt said. "It only really seemed to work when I didn't realize I actually cared about people."

"You're probably still trying to deal with all of those emotions," Lector said. "It's something so foreign to you that you're having a hard time figuring it out."

Nesbitt gave a noncommittal shrug, but he had to admit that Lector was right about that.

". . . Caring about people is hard," he said. "It hurts so much when they're hurting. And I get so upset and blurt things out. . . . And then if I hurt them, I feel like complete garbage."

"So do I," Lector said.

"And it's hard to really grasp that I could be cared about, when I didn't know I cared for so long and now I just can't figure out how to interact with anyone now that I know I do. . . . I know I'd be worried sick if someone pulled the stupid stunt I pulled today. And I'd lash into them a lot worse than you did to me."

"I _am_ glad that you found how our intruder must be getting in," Lector said. "You were being very logical and resourceful to come up with that idea. But weren't you worried at all to go in the North wing again?"

"Yeah, I was," Nesbitt said. "But I wanted to be useful, not just lay around hoping I'd remember everything soon."

Lector laid a hand on his shoulder. "You're a fool, but you can be a brave fool," he said. "And you're my dear friend. I came to see the good in you, Nesbitt, and when I saw it, I wondered why I hadn't seen it before. It was so obvious, and it shows you absolutely _are _worth loving." He paused. "I only got so upset because of my worry and my caring about you, but I should have controlled myself better, especially when you only wanted desperately to be helpful. I'm very sorry."

Nesbitt gave a noncommittal shrug. ". . . I guess it's nice that someone cares enough to be upset. And I should have known that doing something stupid like that would only get you upset."

"How could you know when you don't remember?" Lector countered.

"I knew the others would be upset," Nesbitt said. "And like I said, I knew I'd be upset if our positions were reversed. It only makes sense that you would be upset as well." He slowly looked up at Lector. ". . . But how can we talk like this when I don't even remember you?"

"Your spirit still remembers me," Lector said quietly, thinking back on his dream. "It's only your body that's having trouble with that."

Nesbitt frowned. ". . . Maybe if I was better at kendo again, I'd be able to tap in to what my spirit knows."

"Did you even believe in the existence of spirits until we were thrust out of our bodies?" Lector wondered.

"Not really," Nesbitt admitted. "But after that happened, I didn't even need to believe. I knew."

Lector smiled a bit. "And when you remember, I hope you'll know how our friendship managed to continue even under these circumstances."

Nesbitt slowly nodded. "I hope so." He started to get up. "We should go find the others. . . ."

Lector stood as well. "Then let's go."

He doubted Nesbitt knew what tomb he had chosen to rest against, and he had no real intention of telling him. It didn't really matter anyway; it was just a strange irony.

But, he reflected as they started off through the cemetery, he had gotten his miracle.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes: I had a different location written in at the ending, but I decided to change it due to Crescent Blue's musing.**

**Chapter Seventeen**

By the time Lector and Nesbitt caught up with the rest of those in the cemetery, they had collected almost all of the treasure and were just about to go for the final part. Yami Bakura found it for them, but as the drawer opened, Evangeline was bewildered to only see a folded piece of paper. "What?"

"Maybe it's a deed to some more property," Tristan suggested.

"Yeah! Without ghosts," Joey added.

Evangeline slowly opened it. "No," she said. "It's a letter from Grandmother." She looked to Lector. "Let's go inside and we can both read it."

"Alright," Lector said in some surprise.

"We also need to think about how we're going to catch whoever's been coming in through the North wing," Atem said.

"Well, since they seem to come every night, why don't we set a trap?" Yugi suggested.

They all started to walk back towards the house. Snakes looked to Yugi in concern. "What kind of trap?"

"Like waiting for them at either or both of the places," Yugi said. "Some of us could hide in the North wing's sitting room, while the rest wait at the secret panel leading to the rest of the house just in case he slips past the first group."

"Maybe we shouldn't keep pressing our luck in the North wing," Tristan worried. "I'm really amazed the ghosts didn't hurt anyone the last couple of times people were in there."

"What if the ghosts who live there have never hurt anyone?" Yugi suggested. "Nesbitt could have been hurt by an outside force."

"Voodoo?" Nesbitt frowned. "I don't even believe in it."

"I just remembered," Angelique exclaimed. "Dr. Raven made Evangeline forget about when she talked to Mr. Kaiba!"

"Yes, but that was with voodoo," Gansley grunted. "I really don't think voodoo would work on Nesbitt, and Dr. Raven doesn't even have his powers anymore."

"Still, I'm starting to think we should talk to Raven about all this," Lector frowned. "I wasn't even thinking that maybe he did this to Nesbitt because of him having done that to poor Evangeline. I assumed he didn't have his powers anymore, but maybe that's what he wants us to think!"

"If we don't catch our other intruder tonight, then I definitely agree we should try to question Dr. Raven in the morning," Atem said. "But I have this feeling we're still missing a key piece of the puzzle," he sighed. "If only I could remember what I found in the basement, and who attacked Yugi and Téa!"

"First things first," Yugi soothed. "Let's catch the living bad guy and maybe he'll have some answers."

"Meanwhile, by now it's too late to take anything to the bank," Evangeline worried. "What should I do with it for tonight?"

"Try putting it in the strongbox," Gansley suggested. "And keep it with you at all times."

Evangeline nodded. "Maybe I will."

xxxx

Mokuba had been sitting with Marik for quite some time, reading to him and sometimes listening while Ishizu or Rishid read. Marik had settled into the pillow, listening with a peaceful smile.

"You know, we haven't done this in quite some time," he remarked. "I didn't even realize how much I missed it until now."

Ishizu smiled. "We should definitely do it more often. You shouldn't have to be feeling under the weather for it to happen."

"I remember Seto used to read to me," Mokuba mused. "He's been so busy lately that there hasn't been time for anything like that, but I'd still like it."

"Then I'm sure he'd do it if he knew," Marik said, already planning to tell him.

"I wonder where he is now." Mokuba got up to look out the window.

At that moment the rest of the group entered through the front door and headed upstairs. "Hi, guys," Yugi greeted when they reached Marik's and Rishid's room. "How's it going?"

"I'm feeling a lot better," Marik said.

"That's great," Téa beamed in relief.

"Hey, is Seto with you guys?" Mokuba asked.

"I met them coming in," Seto said from the back of the group. "I was downstairs looking over the doors Nesbitt and Johnson found."

Mokuba was horrified. "You were in the North wing all alone?!" he cried. Gansley and Crump had sent text messages about the news, but Mokuba hadn't thought Seto would investigate by himself.

"I was careful," Seto said. "They didn't do anything to me."

"I'm thinking more and more that those ghosts really aren't malevolent," Yugi said. "They just don't like company."

"Well," Evangeline said, "why don't we have dinner and then wait for our 'guest'?"

"Works for me," Joey said. "But _I'm_ not going in the North wing!"

"Of course not," Seto grunted.

xxxx

After a late dinner, the groups opted to wait for their intruder in both locations. There was always the chance that after entering the house, he took other secret passageways that they hadn't found, so it seemed wisest for some of them to wait in the North wing's sitting room.

"How long do you think it'll take?" Crump wondered. Evangeline had wanted to be right at the first entrance, so all of the Big Five had gone with her.

"Let's hope not long," Gansley grunted.

They weren't sure how long they had been waiting when the knob slowly turned. The door opened, revealing both moonlight and a silhouetted figure. The person went inside, shutting the door after them before walking quietly through the room.

"Now!" Gansley ordered.

Lector and Nesbitt leaped out of the shadows, dragging the trespasser to the floor.

"Hey!" came a yell in an alarmed male voice. "What are you doing?!"

Lector's stomach dropped. "Michel," he whispered.

Evangeline lit an oil lamp and glowered at their brother. "Michel, what do you think you're doing?!" she demanded.

The secret panel leading out of the wing flew open. "You caught him?!" Joey yelled.

"Yes, we caught him," Evangeline said bitterly, "and it's our _dear_ brother Michel."

". . . Michelle?!" Joey said in disbelief.

Téa facepalmed. "It's the French form of Michael."

". . . Oh." Joey flushed, embarrassed.

Rishid stormed over to Michel, his eyes flashing. "Did you chloroform my brother?!" he snarled.

Michel looked away, his eyes filled with guilt. "I didn't use much. . . . I didn't want to risk it being an overdose. . . ."

"Any at all is too much!" Rishid boomed.

"And just why have you been sneaking around in my house?!" Evangeline demanded.

". . . I was hoping to find the family treasure before you did," Michel said. "I knew if you found it, you'd want to give some of it to Démas, and . . ."

Lector regarded him in disgust. "You wanted my share too?"

"It's not like that!" Michel insisted. "But Father disowned you, and . . ."

"Oh, you're disgusting," Evangeline spat. "I feel like not giving you anything!"

"You found it?!" Michel cried.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Evangeline sneered.

Lector laid a hand on her shoulder. "I don't need any of it, Michel," he said coolly. "I'm well-set."

"But you're that psychopath's silent partner?!" Crump yelled. "You were gonna kill all of us?!"

"I don't think so," Atem frowned. "He was being so careful about the chloroform. If he intended on murder, he wouldn't have cared."

Johnson was horrified. "So there's still someone else?!"

"There has to be!" Michel exclaimed. "I wasn't going to kill anyone! And I wasn't working with anyone else! I did all of this on my own—copying Evangeline's key, coming here every night, looking for the treasure . . . ! No one else knew, not even Phillipe!"

"You live with him," Evangeline objected. "How could he not know?"

"Well, he doesn't," Michel insisted.

Crump looked to Lector. "What do you think, Buddy?"

Lector rubbed his forehead. "I'm afraid I believe him," he said wearily.

"So what do we do with him now?" Crump wondered.

"The house isn't in Evangeline's name," Michel said. "It belongs to the whole family. I wasn't trespassing!"

"You hurt Marik," Rishid growled. "That is assault."

Evangeline nodded. "I'm calling the police." She took out her phone.

"Like the family needs more bad publicity?!" Michel exclaimed. "Please, Sis, I'm begging you not to call! I won't do this again. Anyway, if you've already found the treasure, there's no point."

Evangeline frowned. "I'm tired of being Little Miss Nice Girl. I lived under our father's thumb for years and didn't try as hard as I could to find out about Démas when he was in a coma. I didn't try harder to contact him when he woke up, either. I'll never forgive myself for that. And I'll never forgive our father for what he did to Démas."

"Michel does need to pay for what he's done," Atem said. "But are you operating more because of a desire for justice or your own bitterness?"

"Honestly, Pharaoh, sometimes they're the same thing," Yami Bakura grunted. "Especially if there's a personal stake in it. You know that well; you admitted to feeling bitter and hateful towards me in our final fight."

"Yes, and I regret it," Atem said. "I never stopped to think that you weren't only Zorc. I could have destroyed you forever."

"No one could have not felt bitterness and hate in such a situation," Yami Bakura said.

"Not to mention, right now I honestly don't care, Pharaoh," Evangeline said. "This is hardly the same thing as possibly destroying someone forever. That was what our father tried to do to Démas. Marie tried to use corrupted voodoo on Mr. Nesbitt and now Mother and Michel want to keep ostracizing Démas in spite of their objections to what Father did! I'm calling the police. And tomorrow I'm going to start legal proceedings to change my last name just like Démas did." With that she walked out of the room with her phone to find the number of the police station.

Lector stared after her. "Evangeline. . . ."

Atem sighed, heavily. "She'll have to find her own way. But I admit, in spite of what I said, I have a hard time faulting her for her actions." He glowered at Michel. "There is something drastically wrong with this family. Perhaps in ancient times Lector would have been seen as the villain and his father as the hero, but those archaic views are long gone. Lector has turned his life around, and he certainly doesn't deserve such treatment as he's been receiving."

Yami Bakura nodded. "If you didn't want the family to have any more bad publicity, you shouldn't have started doing things that would result in such if you were caught," he sneered. "You're a pathetic thief anyway."

"I wouldn't have been caught if this door hadn't been found," Michel said bitterly.

"So you're not even sorry?" Yami Bakura said. "I have very little patience for turning against your family when they don't deserve it. Your family should be the most important thing in your life." His eyes flashed. "You abandoned your brother, and really, your sister as well. And she has every right to turn her back on you now. I never would have encouraged Lector to go back to his family had I known then what they were really like."

"You encouraged him to come back?" Michel said in surprise. "When was that?"

"When we thought his _real_ family was dead after they all died to save him," Yami Bakura said. "I thought you were his real family then. As saccharine as it sounds, I had it backwards."

Bakura laid a hand on his shoulder. "Yami. . . ." He knew how badly this must be affecting his friend. Losing his family in the Kul Elna massacre at age six had made Yami Bakura fiercely outraged at any disloyalty among families. One never knew when their family might be taken, and he felt that time with them should be considered more precious than anything else.

Yami Bakura growled. "I hope your father rots in prison. And I hope your actions bring down whatever was left of your family's reputation."

Michel looked to Lector, who had remained quiet. "Is that how you feel as well, Brother? I know you've never been very forgiving when people have hurt you. Even as a kid, you had trouble with that."

"Quite frankly, I don't know how I'm feeling right now," Lector said. "Our father hurt me in a way you could never comprehend. I never wanted to come back here. But I had to in order to testify against him, and now my friend doesn't remember me, my brother tried to rob and cheat our sister, and our sister is sinking deeper and deeper into bitterness because of you and Father and everyone else in this miserable family! If none of you want to change your ways, then I say all of you deserve your just desserts." He turned and stormed out as well.

Nesbitt was still holding tightly to Michel's wrists behind his back. "And you'd better not try anything funny," he warned. "I'm a kendo master."

Michel made a face. "Great. Just great."

Gansley sneered at him. "I'm pretty handy with a cane." He waved it at him.

"I won't try to get away," Michel insisted.

"Good," Yami Bakura smirked.

xxxx

Lector didn't make a reappearance when the police arrived to arrest Michel. Evangeline and others gave their statements, including Marik, and the police officers slowly shook their heads.

"You poor people have had more than your fair share of trouble lately because of these nuts," one of them commented.

Evangeline managed a small smile. "Aren't you supposed to appear more impartial, Officer?"

He sighed. "Sometimes it just gets to you."

"It sure does," Evangeline sighed too.

The group watched as the vehicle drove away moments later.

"Did Démas go up to his room?" Evangeline asked.

"I don't know, but Nesbitt turned Michel over to me and went after him," Crump said.

"And now we're stuck with the problem of who else could be behind this," Téa moaned. "If we figure a spirit had to be involved to tell that guy what Johnson said in Noa's world, and Noa was the only one who knew . . ."

"Wait!" Atem gasped. "I remember what I figured out in the basement. There _was_ someone else who knew!" He ran out of the room. "We have to make sure the others are safe!"

xxxx

Lector wasn't in his room, and Nesbitt had been wandering around for what seemed like ages, desperately looking for him. "Lector?!" he called. "Lector, where are you?!"

He stiffened as he went into the second floor hallway and saw the dark-haired ghost gliding towards the stairs to the ground floor. "What the . . ." No one else had ever mentioned her leaving the second floor hallway, unless it was she who also appeared on the third floor. For some reason Nesbitt didn't understand, he felt compelled to follow her.

The ghost walked downstairs, either unaware of Nesbitt's presence or uncaring. Or perhaps she wanted him to follow her. She headed towards the study and through the open French doors to the backyard.

Nesbitt stared after her. Lector was in the backyard; somehow he knew it. He ran through the doors. "Lector?!"

The ghost was still there, turning right. Nesbitt ran after her, traveling over the grass until the family cemetery was in sight. The spectre walked up to the open gate and promptly vanished.

Nesbitt didn't waste time being disturbed by the sight. "Lector?!" He tore into the cemetery and stood looking around. Where would Lector go? The place hadn't seemed that big in the daytime, but at night, whether Nesbitt wanted to admit it or not, it was eerie.

"Nesbitt?" Lector sounded nearby.

Nesbitt swiftly walked around the tombs, making his way towards the other's voice. When he rounded a tomb's corner and found him, Lector was standing by the same tomb they had spoken at earlier that day.

"What are you doing here?!" Nesbitt demanded.

"I don't know," Lector sighed. "I guess I just wanted to get away for a while, at least until Michel was taken away. Are they gone?"

"Yeah, probably," Nesbitt said. "I handed him off to Crump and came to find you."

Lector stared at him. "You just decided to come find me on your own?"

"Well . . . yes," Nesbitt said, looking awkward. "You came looking for me earlier. . . . Even without remembering you, I knew something like this had to be a rough blow for you. . . ."

"It has been," Lector sighed. "But while Evangeline's growing more and more bitter, I seem to be growing more and more weary." His voice cracked. "I don't know how much more I can take. . . ."

Nesbitt's eyes flickered with surprise that Lector would reveal a vulnerable side to him when he didn't even remember. _Lector must be desperate,_ he thought. _Or desperately missing his friend. . . ._

"You shouldn't have to take any more," he said angrily, protectively. He might not remember, but he knew he didn't want Lector to be hurting so much. Lector didn't deserve that at all. If there was only something, anything he could do for his friend . . . !

Lector looked at him, again surprised. "You almost sound like you remember," he said quietly.

"Maybe in some ways, I almost feel like I do," Nesbitt said. "I know I'm tired of seeing you be hurt, by me or anyone else. I can't comprehend your family treating you the way they do. Why don't they recognize that they're blessed to have you? They've known you all their lives and they can't see it. And I . . . I don't remember who you are, but I see it so clearly."

A light came into Lector's eyes at those words, a light that hadn't been there since Nesbitt had awakened with amnesia. Nesbitt saw it and recognized it, and he remembered when he had seen it before. Lector had looked at him like that when he had realized Nesbitt cared. . . . When Nesbitt had revived after being killed trying to save him. . . . Whenever Nesbitt had shown concern and love for him. . . .

_I do know him,_ Nesbitt realized. _We've been through so much together and we care about each other so completely and unconditionally. He's . . . my best friend. . . ._

"Thank you," Lector said, breaking into his thoughts. "Thank you for telling me that." He rested a hand on Nesbitt's shoulder. "Let's go find the others. They're probably worried."

"I'm sure they are," Nesbitt agreed.

They started back towards the gate. But before they could reach it, a strange, dark substance appeared in front of them, shapeless at first and then gradually taking on the form of a man. "So! You're undoing all of my plans, are you?!"

Lector fell back. "Gozaburo?!"

Nesbitt stared. It was impossible, but he recognized the voice. "But . . . you're supposed to be trapped in the Shadow Realm," he gasped.

Still, it was indeed Gozaburo Kaiba standing in front of a tomb and glowering at both of them, his gaze like ice. "I found a way to set myself free just so I could cause chaos and misery for the five men who betrayed me!" he cried.

"You!" Lector realized. "It was you who tripped Yugi and hurt Nesbitt! You gave him amnesia!"

"Very selective amnesia, designed to hurt my former right-hand man," Gozaburo sneered.

"How did you do it?!" Nesbitt boomed. "I want my memory back!"

"Do you really think I'll tell you?" Gozaburo mocked.

Lector snarled. "We'll find a way to fix it," he vowed. "There has to be a way! He's already remembering some things!"

"Yes, and he wasn't supposed to," Gozaburo said in disgust. "He was supposed to be leery of you, to even be afraid of or angry at you. Instead, he gravitates to you even without remembering you! So I tried targeting Johnson by telling that fool who hates him about when Johnson told Noa that Gansley and Crump were useless, but that didn't work either! What is it with the five of you?! Why can't I destroy you?!"

"Because we found something that you still haven't, Sir," Lector said. "That love and friendship are actually invaluable. We never could have made it through all that we did without each other."

Gozaburo roared. "Well, if I can't destroy you one way, I'll destroy you another!" Before their horrified eyes he transformed to his flaming demon form and lunged, slashing at Nesbitt.

"_NO!"_ Lector screamed. He dragged Nesbitt to the ground. At the same moment, he felt the claws rake through his back.

_It's what he did to Mr. Kaiba,_ he realized in terror. _He's torn through my soul and he's going to trap me in the darkness!_

Nesbitt stiffened when he felt Lector go limp. "Lector?!" He pushed the other man back to see into his face. _"LECTOR!"_

It was the way he screamed Lector's name. _He knows me,_ Lector thought as he faded. _He finally knows me again. . . . Nesbitt, I'm sorry. . . ._

The darkness covered him.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

Nesbitt was left kneeling in the grass, cradling Lector's lifeless body.

"What did you do to him?!" he spat, visibly trembling with rage.

"You may remember that the last time I showed up, I struck Seto down this same way," Gozaburo bragged. "In this form, my claws cut through the soul and not the body. I've trapped Lector in his worst memories. And in Lector's case, he's experienced that very thing before, thanks to that zealot Khu trapping him in the darkness . . . while you and the others looked on, I believe."

Nesbitt's eyes burned. "How do you know about that?!"

"That strange creature Yami Marik told me," Gozaburo said.

"And he also set you free, no doubt," Nesbitt snarled. "I'll save Lector. I'll do whatever it takes to bring him out of his memories and back into reality!"

"Well, aren't you the noble one," Gozaburo mocked. "And to think, this is coming from the man who was going to abandon his friends in Noa's world."

Nesbitt roared, raising the hand bearing the Fire ring Shadi had given him. His emotions spilling over, the ring activated and blasted a hole through Gozaburo's demon form.

It mended in the next instant. "You can't put out fire with fire this time," Gozaburo laughed.

"Oh yeah?! Well, how about ice?!"

Gozaburo and Nesbitt both started and turned. Crump was standing nearby, his own ring pointed right at Gozaburo. Gansley, Johnson, and everyone else was running up after him.

"We're too late," Atem berated. "I should have remembered before! Gozaburo knew everything that was happening in Noa's world! He had to be the one who told what Johnson said!"

"What happened to Lector?!" Johnson cried in horror.

"He was protecting me," Nesbitt said brokenly. "Now he's trapped in the darkness like Mr. Kaiba was."

"How fitting that I should strike him down here," Gozaburo sneered. "That tomb is the one in which he would have been buried had he died and his family laid claim on his body."

"What?!" Nesbitt went sheet-white as he looked back at the mausoleum behind him. "Why didn't he tell me?!"

"I suppose he didn't see any reason to," Gansley said. "But what was he doing here now, Nesbitt?!"

"I don't know," Nesbitt said. "He was upset about Michel and wanted to get away. . . . Maybe he was thinking again how they're all against him, except Evangeline. . . ." He held Lector close, his hands shaking. Lector was still alive, thank God. But he was still badly hurt from Gozaburo's cruelty.

"You can both die at the site of his sacrifice!" Gozaburo yelled, blasting at Nesbitt.

Nesbitt snarled and held out his ring, sending out an answering blast. The magical fires collided and extinguished each other in mid-air.

"Apparently Gozaburo is a serious threat to the entire world or the rings wouldn't be activating," Yami Bakura remarked.

"Well, he _did_ try to destroy the world from inside virtual reality," Yugi said.

"This is so ridiculous it's laughable," Gozaburo said. "These rings you have are so you can save the world from magical and supernatural threats? Do you actually think any of you are superhero material?"

"I know I'm not," Nesbitt said. "But Lector would probably say he knows I am, or that I could be. And I won't let him down again!"

"None of us will," Gansley said. "You're going to regret tangling with us, Gozaburo Kaiba."

"And I have something to say about it myself," Seto said darkly. He took the Light ring out of his pocket and placed it on his finger. "I don't appreciate any of what you've done, Stepfather."

"It's not like you care about these people, Seto," Gozaburo retorted.

"Mokuba loves Lector. That's reason enough to be angry at this madness," Seto replied. "But even aside from that, I don't like this. You're just jealous of how close the Big Five are and you wanted to destroy that any way you could."

"Knowing how painful New Orleans is for Lector, I thought this was the ideal place and time to make trouble," Gozaburo leered. "He almost got to his breaking point, but then Nesbitt had to say something that cheered him up. That's when I decided to come out and make one last effort to destroy a soul." He looked to Lector laying in Nesbitt's arms. "And so I have! This isn't what I did to Seto. I learned from Yami Marik how to make it stronger and more powerful. You'll never wake him up!"

"Of course we will," Gansley snarled. "We'll never give up on him!"

"But before we can help Lector, we've gotta get rid of you," Crump said. "So take this!" Ice burst from his ring in the next instant.

Gozaburo melted it before it could reach him. "You'll have to try harder than that," he laughed.

Gansley blasted at Gozaburo with his ring. "Rocks should choke the fire of your demon form," he cried. Rocks began to form around Gozaburo, climbing higher and higher to freeze him in place.

Johnson frowned. "The power of wind might make the fire worse. Am I powerless in this fight?"

"All of you are powerless!" Gozaburo sneered. "Seto can't do anything either. Light will certainly do nothing against my fire." The rocks were all the way up to his waist, and he blasted at everyone with his demonic flames.

Crump was working overtime to freeze and put out all the blasts before they could hit. "What are we gonna do?!" he cried. "We need help!"

Lector's ring activated even as he lay still in Nesbitt's arms. Tendrils of darkness spun out from the amethyst jewel, wrapping around Gozaburo's upper body.

"What is this?!" Gozaburo yelled. "This fog . . . it's choking off my powers! It's not like a normal darkness!"

Atem smirked. "You're right about that. A darkness that is not evil will destroy a flame from Hell. Shadi said Lector's ring held the powers of night, not an evil darkness as you perhaps thought."

"There's no way Lector could even activate his ring!" Gozaburo screamed. "He's lost in a labyrinth of painful memories!"

"His heart is still with us," Atem replied.

"And he'll always protect us above everything else," Nesbitt whispered. "Even in Noa's world, it was our safety he cared about the most. He refused to leave unless we could all go."

Johnson looked to him with a jerk. "Nesbitt!"

"I remember," Nesbitt admitted. "Everything is clear to me now."

"No!" Gozaburo screamed in rage.

The crackling of the flames comprising his demon form died down to nothing.

"He's human again now," Seto realized. "Johnson, you can be of use. Blast the fog away with your ring while Nesbitt and I light things up. Pharaoh, Yami Bakura, you'll have a clear shot at him."

"Why, thank you," Yami Bakura smirked.

Gozaburo cursed them all. Seto's plan was perfect—Johnson's breeze and Seto and Nesbitt's light drove off the darkness, but by now he was weakened and back in human form. Gansley's rock was holding him in place from the waist down, and Crump was poised to blast him with ice.

"Now, let's try this again," Atem said as he and Yami Bakura came to stand in front of him. "Once again we will send you away, and Kaiba and the Big Five will add their seals on you for added protection. Yami Marik may not have such an easy time releasing you again."

"Be gone," Yami Bakura uttered.

Their Infinity Items glowed, as did all elemental rings. Even as Gozaburo roared in outrage, the darkness of the Shadow Realm claimed him once more.

Evangeline gasped. "It feels like a vise over the entire property has been released!"

"Gozaburo's evil influence is gone," Atem said. "I imagine the spirits dwelling in the house are all still here, but I doubt any of them will be a danger to anyone. It was likely Gozaburo who did everything malevolent."

Angelique still looked doubtful, as did Joey. "Well, let's hope so," Angelique shuddered.

"And the siren," Crump said. "I'm pretty sure that wasn't Gozaburo in disguise."

Johnson looked scandalized at the thought.

"But even with Gozaburo gone, Lector still isn't awake," Nesbitt said morosely.

"Seto didn't wake up when Gozaburo was kicked out either," Mokuba reminded. "But won't Lector wake up if we all give him our strength, like we did for Seto?!"

"I don't know," Nesbitt said. "Gozaburo said this time it's stronger than before. He said we'll never wake him up. . . ."

"We're going to," Gansley insisted. "Let's get him inside and we'll stay with him until he recovers."

Crump hurried to help Nesbitt lift Lector. Nesbitt started. He had wanted to manage on his own, yet he knew he likely could not. His eyes flickered with gratitude for the assistance. Crump, of course, was worried too.

Together they carried Lector back into the house and to a ground floor bedroom. As they laid him on the soft comforter, all of the Big Four gathered around him, as did Evangeline and Mokuba. The rest of the group lingered in other parts of the room.

"Please, wake up, Démas," Evangeline begged.

"You've gotta come back," Mokuba said. "You can't let Gozaburo beat you!"

Everyone in the room sent their light and will to Lector, praying for him to awaken. But unlike with Seto, he did not.

"What's wrong?!" Nesbitt cried. "What if it really is too strong to break?!"

"You can't let yourself think that," Gansley insisted.

"Maybe the four of you are the key," Atem suggested. "If the spell is stronger, then it seems likely that it's the people he's closest to who can break it."

Evangeline nodded. "That makes sense to me. I love Démas dearly, but you know, we've never even spent a whole lot of time together."

"He really loves you, though," Crump said. "You and Gabriel are the only bright spots in this crazy family of yours."

"Grandmother too, I think," Evangeline said softly.

"Gozaburo said he trapped Lector in his worst memories," Yugi said. "What would be the worst memory for him?"

Nesbitt suddenly went sheet-white. "When Khu trapped him in the darkness and we stood by, taunting him," he rasped. "We didn't think the darkness would overtake him. . . . We honestly thought he'd be fine . . . and instead we almost lost him to it." His hand dropped to Lector's hand on the bed.

"Then all of you must break through that memory and shine the light of reality on him," Atem said.

Gansley nodded and grasped Lector's other hand in both of his. "Please, come back to us," he begged. "We didn't help you back then, when we should have, but we've tried so hard to be there for you every time since. And . . . we're here for you now, if you can just hear us. . . ."

"Always," Crump said.

"Just as you've always been there for us," Johnson said.

Nesbitt trembled, clutching Lector's hand to his forehead. "I remember you now," he rasped. "I almost remembered everything before Gozaburo interrupted us. I remembered you're my best friend. Then Gozaburo struck you down and the last block fell away from my mind. Please wake up . . . so I can really tell you that you have me back. . . ."

Lector still didn't stir. They could only wait and pray that their words and love would sink through the evil darkness Gozaburo had wrapped him in.

xxxx

_Lector cried out as the dark mists swirled around him again, starting at his feet and swiftly curling around every part of his body. Every time the nightmare ended, with the darkness taking him away, it rewound and started all over again. There was no escape, no matter how he screamed and prayed and pleaded to be set free. At first he had fought against it, aware of what was happening to him. But the more it happened, the more he became part of it, acting it out as though it were happening all over again, and the more it seemed that it really was. Maybe all the good he thought he remembered was the dream, an illusion he had crafted, and all this time he had really still been trapped in the Shadow Realm, experiencing his personal Hell over and over again._

"_Help!" he screamed. "You can't do this to me! Please . . . don't let him do this to me!"_

_The rest of the Big Five stood around him, laughing, taunting him, unforgiving for the sin of trying to protect Mokuba from them. In Gozaburo's cruel world, they were even more harsh than they had been in the past, when the scene had really happened._

"_This should teach you to go against us," Gansley sneered._

"_We'll come back for you in a while . . . if there's anything left," Crump added._

"_My guess is that you're in for a life sentence of this," Johnson smiled. "And of course, life in here is an eternity."_

"_You shouldn't have given in to such ridiculous emotions as kindness and caring," Nesbitt said. "None of us have."_

"_No!" Lector clawed at the darkness, but it tightened its grip. He could feel it breaking down his spirit, assimilating it into the mists. And this time there was no escape. Mokuba wasn't coming back to try to help him this time, and the Pharaoh wasn't coming either. He was done for._

_He sank to what was left of his knees. "I thought you loved me," he whispered. "I thought we were a team. I knew you'd be angry when you found out about Mokuba, but I didn't think you'd betray me like this . . . !"_

_It was the last straw, the final spark of hope extinguished. He had lost the only people he had thought still truly cared about him and there was nothing left._

"_Lector!"_

_He looked up with a start. A hand had pierced the darkness, reaching out for him. An older hand, wrinkled with age, but strong and firm in Lector's eyes._

"_Gansley?" he whispered. "You . . . you came back for me?"_

"_Of course I did." Gansley stepped through the darkness, reaching with both hands now. "Come back, Lector. We can't stand it without you."_

_Lector shakily reached out with hands that reformed out of the darkness as the mists fell away. He grasped Gansley's hands in his. "You came back for me," he whispered._

"_We all did!" Crump was there at his side now. "We don't wanna be the Big Four."_

_Johnson smiled at him. "Your sentence has been commuted."_

_Lector held them all close, rare tears leaking from his eyes. Most of them had returned for him. But . . . Nesbitt . . ._

_Then Nesbitt was there, fighting off the rest of the darkness with his bare hands. He stood looking at Lector for a long moment and suddenly charged in, pulling the other man into a tight hug. "Please forgive us," he choked out. "We never wanted you hurt. We never . . ."_

_Lector clutched him close. "You felt betrayed too," he said quietly. "And we were all drowning in the darkness. It warps people from who they really are."_

_Lector paused as his words really sank in. "We __**were**__ all drowning in the darkness." Past tense. It was over. They lived in the light now. That wasn't a dream. That was reality. And now he had to get back to it._

"_Thank you," Lector whispered as the light cut in over them, breaking through every bit of the Shadow Realm's darkness._

xxxx

Lector's eyes opened. "You saved me," he rasped in awe.

Crump whooped in joy and glomped Lector. "Just like you've done for us, Buddy!" he said.

Johnson brightened, embracing him more gently. "Now you're back with us."

"Thank God." Gansley smiled, squeezing Lector's hand since he couldn't get at him otherwise. "To think there was a time when I didn't believe caring like this was real."

Lector looked to each of them, touched and moved. Then, as in his dream, he looked to Nesbitt, who was still gripping his other hand. What he had thought he had heard just before falling unconscious was clearly seen in Nesbitt's eyes. "You remember," he knew.

"Please forgive me for forgetting you," Nesbitt choked out, just as in the dream where his spirit had reached out to Lector. "I never wanted to."

Lector reached to draw him close. "It wasn't your fault," he insisted. "It was never your fault."

Most of the rest of the group cheered.

"He's okay!" Téa exclaimed.

"And Gozaburo's gone!" Mokuba beamed, watching Lector reunite with his friends. "You're all safe now!"

"Oh, Démas. . . ." Evangeline brushed away a happy tear. "Everything's going to be alright now."

Lector felt the same. There were still the trials to go through, and testifying was still not going to be fun, but the burden on his heart had been lifted. Nesbitt remembered him again and all of them had drawn him out of Gozaburo's cruel world. Any remaining shadows from that dark time were now gone from his heart.

"You know, I completely forgot," Evangeline exclaimed. "We haven't read Grandmother's letter yet."

"You read it," Lector said.

Nesbitt looked awkward. "Do you want all of us to leave if it's some personal family letter?"

"No," Evangeline insisted. "Everyone should stay." She took out the letter and began to read.

_Dear whoever finds the family treasure,_

_I hope you will fully appreciate what you have discovered. These are heirlooms that are very precious to my mother and my grandmother and me, but someday they may be needed to sell if anyone in the family falls on hard times. If everyone is doing alright, or if the family members wouldn't appreciate the true value of the jewelry __**and**__ this letter, please keep it all hidden for a later date._

_I know this family has its problems. So does every family. But one thing I've come to know through the years is that family is so much more than flesh and blood. Our family is a beautiful merging of different cultures and races, initially bound by marriage and, I hope, now bound too by love. But a family just means a group of people who care about each other more than anything else. I've seen some incredible families made from dear friends who couldn't love each other more if they were actually related. If anyone in this family has made friends they consider their family, then I consider them family too, and I want them to share in the treasure. After all, a bond that close is the real treasure, more valuable by far than anything in this little collection._

_With Love,_

_Iris Leichter_

Evangeline folded the letter and handed it to Lector. "I think of everyone here as my family now," she said. "I don't know if Démas feels that way about everyone in the room, but I know for sure that some people fall into that category for him."

"Yes," Lector said quietly. He opened the letter and looked it over again, moved by the words.

"You're sure part of our family too," Téa smiled. "All of you. . . ." She looked around the room. "We started out with four of us, and look how things have grown now!"

"Yes, and there are still more friends elsewhere," Bakura said, petting Oreo. "The bikers and Leon. . . ."

"And Rebecca," Yugi added, while Yami Bakura scowled. Their meetings had not been pleasant.

"But there surely wouldn't be enough treasure for all of us, if you're thinking of sharing it all around," Mai said in surprise.

"Well . . ." Evangeline smiled. "Let's wait and see what happens when we get it all appraised."

"The family'll probably contest it," Crump said.

"She stipulates that someone has to appreciate the value of the letter as well as the jewels in order to have them," Johnson mused. "If this letter holds up in court, then that would have to be abided by."

"As if anyone could prove or disprove who values the letter," Yami Bakura snorted. "After reading it, they would all put on an act pretending to value it."

"But the proof is in their actions," Evangeline said grandly. "I think the way Démas has been treated proves that hardly anyone values the letter or the values spoken of in it. Anyway, we'll see what happens."

Lector sat up. "We'll see," he agreed. "But right now we have a lot to talk about and I feel like going to the front of the house. We're on the first floor, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Crump said. "We wanted to try to wake you up as soon as possible and not wait until we got you up to our room."

"Do you really feel well enough to get up?" Nesbitt asked in concern.

"Now who's a mother hen," Lector said, but smiled. "I'm fine, Nesbitt. For the first time in what feels like ages, I am truly fine." He stood and laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let's go."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

The Big Five had settled on the couch in the living room to talk. Everyone else had floated to other parts of the house to allow them their privacy, and Gansley, Crump, and Johnson mutually and unspokenly agreed to mostly let Lector and Nesbitt talk. They badly needed it, after all they had been through.

Nesbitt sighed, sinking back into a couch. "I don't know where to begin," he said.

"We don't have to talk," Lector said. "Maybe we've said all that needs to be said."

"No." Nesbitt looked up at him. "Now that I remember you, I don't know how I could have ever forgot you." He gripped the throw draped over the couch. "How could any force do that to me?!"

"It couldn't," Lector replied. "That's why you gradually got your memories back and eventually remembered almost everything before Gozaburo had ever been defeated. In fact, you remembered it all before his defeat."

"That's true, I did," Nesbitt said. "I realized you were my best friend, and I was going to tell you, and then Gozaburo showed up." He clenched his teeth. "And as you grabbed me and fell when he hurt you, suddenly I really knew _you_, not just things about you. . . . If that makes any sense at all."

"It makes perfect sense," Lector assured him. "Right before I fell unconscious, I heard you calling to me. I could tell from the way you said my name that you remembered me. It was an immense comfort."

"Well, at least that's something," Nesbitt grunted. "But I wish you hadn't been hurt."

"If it hadn't been me, it would have been you again," Lector said. "And maybe it's selfish, but I honestly don't think I could have taken that."

"So I'm supposed to be glad it was you?" Nesbitt snapped.

"No," Lector said. "If you care about somebody, you'll never be glad if they're hurt. But I'm glad it was me and not you."

Nesbitt looked away. ". . . I know you've been under a lot of stress ever since we came here. Before, really. You're probably right that you couldn't have taken it if I got hurt a second time while we were here. I'd never wish that on you."

"I know," Lector said. "You're a true friend, Nesbitt." He hesitated. "There was another reason why Gozaburo's spell couldn't hold you."

"Why was that?" Nesbitt raised an eyebrow.

"I told you that your spirit still remembered me," Lector said. "I wasn't just saying that. The first time I fell asleep after you didn't remember me, your spirit came to talk to me in a dream. I know it was you and not just something I was dreaming." He looked firmly into Nesbitt's eyes. "You told me it was the only way you could communicate with me right then. You said not to give up on you, that you were going to make your body remember me but you needed help. And you begged forgiveness for forgetting me, just like you did when I broke out of Gozaburo's spell over me."

Nesbitt stared at him. ". . . Thanks for telling me," he stammered.

"Do you believe me?" Lector asked.

"I know you wouldn't make it up," Nesbitt said. "I don't remember doing that, but I know I would have if I could."

Lector smiled. "And you did, my dear friend."

Nesbitt stared up at the ceiling. "Imagine—a love like that. There was a time when I never would have believed it."

"I wouldn't have either," Lector said. "Although I suppose I would have been more open to it than you were up until a few months ago."

"Heh. Probably." Nesbitt turned onto his side to face Lector. ". . . Lector, why were you in the cemetery? Gozaburo told us you were at the tomb meant for you."

Lector looked away. "I was remembering when I was first told about the tomb and how different things were then."

"You didn't tell me that's what the tomb was."

"Should I have?" Lector looked back. "I didn't see any point in it. Especially since it's no longer where I want to be buried."

Nesbitt grunted. "I think maybe, at least for a minute, I wondered if you had some kind of a death wish. Of course, I didn't remember you at that point."

"I swear to you I didn't," Lector insisted. "I want to live. I have so much to live for."

"Yeah, you do." Nesbitt hesitated again. ". . . When you were trapped in Gozaburo's spell, how did you finally break free? Was it really just our wills calling out to you?"

Lector sobered. "I was trapped in a repeating memory. Over and over, I had to experience being put in the darkness by Khu while you and the others looked on. But you were far more cruel and cold than you were in real-life."

Nesbitt sat up straight again. "I knew that's what you'd be seeing," he berated.

Crump swore under his breath. Gansley and Johnson both looked sickened and regretful.

"It's alright," Lector told him. "I believe I'm finally completely healed from that time. When all of you did whatever it was you did to try to get through to me, I experienced all of you literally breaking through the darkness to rescue me. I know that's what you all wanted to do back then, only you thought it was too late and you were all so badly shaken you couldn't think what to do. This time you could, and did."

Nesbitt's eyes filled with surprise. ". . . I'm glad to know that," he said.

Gansley smiled. "It is a weight off my shoulders, I assure you, Lector. We didn't or couldn't save you then, but we did now."

"Yes, you did," Lector said. "Thank you, all of you."

"You'd do the same for us," Crump said. "You're the best buddy any of us could have."

"Absolutely," Johnson agreed.

"Well, you're all the best friends I could have," Lector said. "And the truest family."

"I agree," Nesbitt said gruffly. He let the gruff tones drop from his voice as he added, "And I'm so glad I finally remember everything about you again."

"So am I, my brother," Lector said.

xxxx

Snakes sat at the kitchen table with Lector and Evangeline and Nesbitt a short while later. He had promised to tell the siblings about their ancestors, and with the danger finally past, it seemed a good time.

"Both of them were good people," he insisted, "not like the judgmental creeps you've had to deal with in the here and now. They both accepted me as one of the family. At the time, I was too scarred by past betrayals to really think of them as my friends. I regret that now."

"I'm glad not all of our family has been horrible," Evangeline said softly.

Lector nodded in firm agreement. "I really look like Great-Great-Grandfather?"

"Oh yeah," Snakes said. "I have to keep reminding myself you're not him." He paused. "But you do have his good heart."

"You don't really know me yet," Lector objected.

"I know enough," Snakes replied.

"And he's right," Nesbitt grunted. "You have a good heart."

Lector smiled.

Yugi, across the room, was taking one more stab at arranging the silverware to try to unlock the secret passageway in the kitchen.

"Why do you keep at that?" Crump wondered. "I mean, what does it matter now?"

"I just hate for a puzzle to get the best of me," Yugi said. "There has to be a solution!"

"Maybe it only works with the real silverware that goes in there," Crump said.

"We'll see." Yugi made one last adjustment and held up the display. "There! Let's try this now!" He hung it on the wall.

"So . . . it's just supposed to activate if it's on the wall in the right position?" Crump blinked. "You don't have to push them against the wall a certain way or something?" He poked a spoon in emphasis.

"I've been pressing the whole thing against the wall so it can feel where each piece is," Yugi said. He did so now.

The wall suddenly clicked and the panel started to open. Yugi leaped out of the way as half the counter moved with it.

Everyone at the table looked up with a start. "You did it!" Evangeline beamed. She hurried over to look. "And I'd say this looks like it could be a second pantry. Look at all the shelf space!"

"Well, that's handy," Crump blinked.

"I wonder if it leads downstairs to the food storage area," Lector wondered.

Evangeline took out a flashlight and stepped inside. "I'm going to find out."

Snakes cautiously walked over and peered into the space. "By the way, what are you planning to do about that exorcist coming back?"

"I think I'll tell him the malevolent ghost is gone, and maybe instead of trying to get rid of the ghosts in the house, he could work on the siren in the pool," Evangeline said over her shoulder.

"That's a great idea," Crump shuddered. "That thing's sure malevolent. Only . . . uh, what if it tries to get him?"

"I'm sure he can resist it," Evangeline said. She walked to the back of the passageway and indeed found steps going down.

"I'm afraid that may come out on the wall where that hammock is," Lector realized. "It seems about in the right place."

Crump cringed. "Do we really wanna bother that ghost?"

"Well . . ." Evangeline looked to him and finally gave him a compassionate smile. "I guess we don't have to right now."

Crump breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's just go tell everyone that we finally got it open," Evangeline decided.

Crump liked that much better.

xxxx

Johnson was walking in the backyard, near the fountain and the pool. He hadn't really had the chance to think much on the news that he would have to testify against that dangerous man who had been after him, but now that the madness was finally past, he could focus on what Seto had done for him. He would be free as long as he turned state's evidence.

Did he really deserve it? It was true that he didn't really know whether or not he had sent any innocent people to prison. But maybe he could try to look into his old cases and investigate what he could to find out. If anyone innocent had gone to prison, maybe he could work to overturn their sentences. And if he didn't have to go to prison himself, his friends wouldn't have to worry that he would be taken away from them.

He had to admit that of course he didn't want that fate either. The thought of prison was terrifying. And they had pointed out that he could do more good while free. Even Téa had said she didn't think it was fair for him to go to prison when he wasn't dangerous anymore.

So many people cared about him. . . .

He came and stood in front of the pool. "You have no hold over me any longer," he said to the siren. "I know my friends love me and they won't abandon me, even for stupid mistakes I made in the past."

He could feel the siren's anger, but she didn't come out of the pool. She knew he was right.

"Johnson?!"

He turned at the sound of Crump's voice. The older man was coming out of the study and marching over to him on the grass. "What the heck are you doing?!"

"I just wanted to make sure the siren can't get me again," Johnson said.

"And what if it had?!" Crump retorted. "You're getting as bad as Nesbitt! You don't go off doing crazy things like that!"

"Objection sustained." Johnson pushed up his glasses and walked over to his friend. "I guess I also wanted to come out here to think for a few minutes. There's been so much going on, I haven't really had the chance to be able to stop and think about my future."

"Oh hey, that's right," Crump realized. "Well, you're gonna be just fine! Kaiba fixed it up for you."

"I know. I'm just trying to think about how I'll go about determining whether I sent any innocent people to prison," Johnson said.

Crump cringed. "That is . . . gonna be a lot of work."

"I know," Johnson sighed. "But I feel like it's something I have to do. If I helped any miscarriages of justice happen, I need to do what I can to correct them."

"You've really changed, you know," Crump said. "You're always thinking about all the garbage you pulled and how to fix it. . . . Gansley pretty much figures there's not a whole lot he can do to fix whatever he caused. And me, I've still got the same interests I always did."

"You've changed too," Johnson said, quirking an eyebrow. "You regret being so sadistic as to try and freeze the Gardner girl in Noa's world. Actually, you've been quite nice to her since we returned to our bodies."

"Well . . . eh . . . not all the time. I teased her a bit at first there. And there was the whole 'kidnap her to get at Kaiba' thing." Crump rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess you're right, though. I think I've been pretty nice to her since we all got brought back to life by that angel after we saved Lector."

"With Gansley, there probably isn't much he can do, especially since we're not established in our business venture yet," Johnson said. "He wouldn't have the means to try to reach out to anyone he may have fired unnecessarily. Although I think most of the terminations were indeed necessary for one reason or another, and most of those people have probably moved on. But if I caused anyone to go to prison who shouldn't have, and they're still in there . . ." He shuddered. "As I said, we know what it's like to be trapped. How can I not try to fix that damage if I'm honestly trying to turn my life around?"

"Yeah, that makes sense." Crump shoved his hands in his pockets. "I guess I'm just kind of worried you're gonna get overwhelmed or burn yourself out. Or heck, maybe you'll even turn over some rocks that should've been left alone and you'll get in trouble with all kinds of creeps worse than you ever were coming after you."

"I'm worried too," Johnson said. "The last thing I want to do is put you and the others in any more danger. We already have it in spades." He sighed. "I'll try to quietly do what I can on my own, but I may have to hire a private investigator to dig deeper."

"You know any decent ones?" Crump asked. He looked doubtful.

"Not in Domino City," Johnson admitted, "although I'm sure there are some honest ones. I'll try to look into it when we get back."

"I guess maybe you could even ask Perry Mason's private eye or somebody like that if they know anyone in Domino City," Crump said.

"I've thought of that," Johnson said with a wry smile, "but I'm sure Paul Drake would never believe my intentions are aboveboard."

"No harm in asking," Crump shrugged.

They entered the study and Johnson pulled the doors closed after them. At the same moment, the front doorbell rang.

Johnson looked down at his watch. "Who would be coming here at this hour?"

Everyone else was on guard as well, they discovered as they walked to the living room. But Angelique determinedly walked up to the peephole and looked out. ". . . Uh oh. . . ."

"What 'uh oh'?!" Joey cried. "We don't like 'uh oh'! Haven't we had enough 'uh ohs'?!"

"It's Mrs. Leichter and Marie," Angelique reported.

Evangeline scowled. "Oh great. Well, pretending we're not home won't do any good. Let's just get this visit over with."

Angelique nodded and unlocked the door. "Hello," she slowly greeted.

Mrs. Leichter walked in with only a brief nod in her direction. Marie trailed alongside her. "Evangeline? Démas?" She looked to them.

"Mother," Lector said with a wary nod.

"Is this about Michel?" Evangeline blurted.

"Well . . . yes, it is," Mrs. Leichter said. "I know what he did was terrible, but it would really be to your advantage as well to drop the charges against him."

Evangeline smirked. "Even if I drop the charges, I don't think Rishid Ishtar will."

Rishid gave a cool nod. "He chloroformed my brother."

"Yes, but he's alright," Mrs. Leichter stammered. "Michel was very careful about the dosage used. Please, we really don't need more bad publicity. The business's stocks have plummeted as it is!"

"Hang the business!" Evangeline cried. "I'll run it myself and bring it back to its former glory. Mother, you should be worrying more about the terrible example Father has set! First he got the whole family to turn against Démas. Even though none of you like what Father did by setting him up as a target, no one tried to stop it! I did all I could, which wasn't much. And even now, none of you treat him right! Marie even tried to get Father's trial thrown out because she cares more about him than about what happened to Démas! Father doesn't want to turn his life around. He doesn't feel any differently about Démas!" Tears pricked her eyes. "And Michel thought it would be perfectly acceptable to look for the family treasure and scare everyone and even hurt people in the process, just to make sure it wasn't shared with Démas!"

"I'm so sorry." Marie looked ready to cry too. "I didn't want to give Mr. Nesbitt amnesia. . . ."

"You didn't," Nesbitt grunted. "It was a malevolent spirit, an old enemy of ours. He's gone now, and in any case, my memories are back."

Marie brightened. "Really?!"

"That's right," Lector said.

"And what's this about you running the company, Evangeline?" Mrs. Leichter exclaimed. "If your father goes to prison, the board of directors will run it."

"I believe I can get them to vote me in as the next president," Evangeline said calmly.

Lector looked to her in surprise. "You never mentioned anything about this, Evangeline."

"I wasn't thinking about it at all until I read through the letters written by our great-great-grandparents," Evangeline admitted. "Then the idea started to take shape. I've studied more about the family business than I ever let on. You and Father both inspired me to take an interest. I want to see the family name and the business be purified again, and I won't rest until I do!"

"You found letters?!" Marie exclaimed.

"Yes," Evangeline said. "And as lovely as the jewelry is that we found, the letters are the real treasure to me."

"If anyone else takes over the company as the president, it should be me," Mrs. Leichter said. "So if you insist on this foolishness, Evangeline dear, I'm afraid I'll have to contest it."

"Then fine, Mother," Evangeline replied. "We'll each present our case to the board of directors and see who they choose."

"Speaking of the family treasure, though, what do you plan on doing with it?" Mrs. Leichter asked.

"I plan on sticking with Grandmother's wishes as detailed in her letter," Evangeline said, "and I'll have a family meeting to read it to everyone."

Mrs. Leichter sighed. "Alright. And there's nothing I can do to get you to change your mind about Michel?"

"Nothing," Rishid rumbled.

"Then I will say Goodnight." Mrs. Leichter turned and stepped back onto the porch.

Marie lingered. "I really am sorry," she said to Evangeline. She looked to Lector as well, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

Lector gave a sad sigh. "So am I, Marie."

Marie slipped out after her mother, pulling the door shut behind them.

"Well, that was a downer," Joey frowned.

"I'm going to eat dinner," Yami Bakura flatly announced, and went into the kitchen.

"Sounds good to me," Crump said. "Uh . . . is everybody still hungry?" He looked to Lector and Evangeline in particular.

"I am famished," Lector declared.

"Did we even eat breakfast?" Téa wondered. "I don't think we did. . . ."

"We slept in late and got right to work looking for secret passageways," Evangeline said.

Snakes shifted. "I might be able to make a dish your great-great-grandparents loved, if we have all the right ingredients," he offered.

Evangeline smiled. "I'd love that."

Encouraged, Snakes headed to the kitchen. Evangeline hurried after him to watch.

xxxx

Dinner was delicious and filled with conversations, mostly of the long-ago past but also of Evangeline's plans for the future. The Big Five, Seto, Duke, David, and Snakes all gave advice on how to win the board of directors over, and Evangeline was thrilled with their suggestions. By the time they were all ready to head to bed after the long day, her enthusiasm was catching. But there were still other, not so pleasant things to think about as well.

"Tomorrow I'll have to go talk to the judge again," Seto grunted. "And I'm guessing he may want to interview you, Nesbitt."

"Great." Nesbitt scowled. "What am I supposed to tell him? If I say I had magically-induced amnesia, I'll still be considered unfit to testify. I can't say it was psychological, because it wasn't and I won't have him think I forgot Lector on purpose."

Seto sighed and shook his head. "I honestly have no idea. Tell him it was probably caused by the shock of falling down the stairs."

"Hey," Crump spoke up, "why don't you two share the room tonight?" He looked to Nesbitt and Lector. "I'll bunk with Johnson."

Johnson's eyes flickered with surprise, but he nodded. "You should. I'm sure you still have a lot to talk about and sort through. Or . . . well, even if you don't feel you need to talk, you might just like to be together, now that you're both alright. . . ."

Nesbitt looked awkward, but open to the idea. "Would you like to, Lector?" he asked.

"I would," Lector said. "But do you want to?"

"Yeah," Nesbitt said. "I would. . . ."

Evangeline smiled.

Everyone started to drift off to their respective rooms to sleep. Gansley and Snakes, as they had figured, had no trouble sharing a room and were soon both peacefully dozing. Nesbitt and Lector, despite being thoroughly exhausted too, were still wide awake as they entered their room after readying for bed.

Nesbitt sank onto the edge of his, loosening his tie. He had long ago taken off his suitcoat in all the chaos. "Are you . . . er . . . planning to stay in your bed tonight?"

"Well, I suppose that depends on if you start rolling around in your sleep and getting dangerously close to the edge again," Lector drawled. "You could still hit your head hard on the end table or the floor."

Crump, passing by the open doorway, snarked at Nesbitt's expression. "Night, you guys."

"Goodnight," Nesbitt grunted.

"Maybe I shouldn't have done that last night," Lector said when they were alone in the room. "I was just feeling protective and worried you'd hurt yourself worse, but it must have been very uncomfortable for you, especially when you didn't remember."

"It was awkward," Nesbitt admitted. "But . . . I was honored and amazed that you would do that for my sake when I didn't remember."

"I'm glad you feel that way," Lector said. "But yes, I do plan to stay in the other bed tonight."

Soon they each settled down and turned off the light. The dozing came gently yet firmly, and they and the others slept peacefully until dawn.


	20. Chapter 20

**Epilogue**

"All rise."

Everyone in the courtroom stood as the judge came back into the room and sat at the bench. "Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, Your Honor," the jury foreman replied. "We find the defendant Guilty on all charges."

The judge nodded. "So ordered. Mr. Leichter, you will report back here on Friday for sentencing."

A low murmur rang through the courtroom. Mrs. Leichter, remaining stoic, did not outwardly react. Marie choked on a sob. "No. . . ."

Lector looked from them to his father and drew a deep breath. Mr. Leichter was also stoic, not reacting to the verdict. His lawyer, on the other hand, looked devastated.

The trials had definitely been difficult, especially Mr. Leichter's. His lawyer was indeed very crafty and tried to find every loophole possible to keep the jury from handing down a Guilty verdict. Although Mr. Leichter had pleaded Guilty for the explosion at his warehouse, he had said nothing about sending for his son through trickery and deceit and deliberately plotting for him to be a target to turn Dr. Raven's attention away from the rest of the family. Most of the trial against him had focused on that. It had been a long and painful and grueling process, and now that the verdict of Guilty had been handed down, Lector wasn't sure if he felt relief, satisfaction, or mostly sorrow and grief.

Evangeline clearly had no intention of going over to the man, but for some reason, Lector wanted a last word. They had had eye contact several times during the trial, but no words had been spoken and Lector could not determine how he felt.

He walked over as the bailiff was preparing to lead his father out of the courtroom. "May I have a word, please?" he asked.

The bailiff nodded and stepped back.

Mr. Leichter looked at Lector again, his eyes still veiled. "Are you happy now, Son?" he asked. "You were always vindictive."

Lector stared at him. "You think I was pushing for this? I didn't even press charges myself! I certainly could have." He hesitated. "Normally I have been vindictive, yes. But this case has torn my heart in so many pieces, I don't know how I'm feeling. Evangeline has been more vindictive than me this time."

"I suppose so," Mr. Leichter sighed, "and not without reason."

". . . Father?" Lector studied him slowly, cautiously.

"I badly mistreated you, Démas," Mr. Leichter said. "I'm only getting a pinprick of what I deserve."

". . . It's . . . good to hear you say that, Father," Lector said. "And surprising at the same time. The entire family hates me now, except Evangeline and Gabriel. They all blame me for your arrest."

"Also my fault," Mr. Leichter said. "I'm sorry for that."

Lector sighed. "They love you more than me, in spite of what you did."

"Maybe someday the mess I made of this family will get straightened out," Mr. Leichter said. "Maybe you and Evangeline and Gabriel will be the ones to do it."

Lector stared at him in amazement. ". . . Thank you, Sir," he stammered, finally finding his voice. "I _am_ sorry it's turned out this way, although you crushed me as no one else could have. I wish you had never sent for me in January."

"I don't know what I wish," Mr. Leichter said, "except that I wish I had never hurt you."

"Then why didn't you just plead Guilty for what you did to him and save him the pain of going through this trial?" Nesbitt finally growled.

"Considering why I sent for him, I didn't feel I could do that," Mr. Leichter said.

"Then you still care about the rest of the family more than me," Lector said.

"I don't know how I feel, Son," Mr. Leichter replied.

Lector watched as the bailiff took him away.

"That worthless slime." Lector looked over as Nesbitt came up beside him. "Are you going to be alright?"

Lector drew a deep breath. "I don't know if I can ever fully heal from this," he said, "but I believe at last the wound may have started to scab."

Nesbitt drew an arm around his shoulders and hugged him close.

Lector turned, clutching him tightly with both arms. He had scarcely ever cried, but now the dam broke and all of the emotions piling up ever since that first trip to New Orleans spilled over. He choked back a sob as he hugged his brother.

Gansley, Crump, and Johnson were quickly there as well, as was Evangeline. "Yes, Lector," Gansley said quietly. "We're all here for you. We will never hurt you as they have."

"It's amazing he can trust at all after this," Johnson said under his breath. "He had them with him for decades and still they turned on him. But he believes we will stay true. Which we will, of course."

Lector looked to him. "I know you won't betray me because we've already been there . . . and we came through it," he said. "And we're stronger for it. It didn't break us apart like it did my family."

"I don't think I ever thought of it that way, but I like that," Crump said.

"Father was always a hard man," Evangeline said quietly, "old-fashioned and stern. He was never the type of person you could really get close to. I don't think we ever minded so much, though . . . until this happened. All of you . . . you share a bond with Démas that he never had with his biological family."

"Yes . . . but surely they loved him once," Johnson said.

Evangeline blinked back tears. "They did . . . but never as you do." She gave a shaky smile.

"Yeah. We're all pretty one of a kind, alright." Crump looked to Lector and Nesbitt. Nesbitt, though awkward with comforting words, seemed to manage with just holding Lector close, and Lector was fine with that. Crump laid a hand on Lector's shoulder. Gansley and Johnson soon joined in as well.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Mokuba worried.

"I think so," Seto said. "As long as he has all of them with him."

Lector pulled back and looked not just to the Big Four, but to everyone else around him as well. "Thank you," he said quietly. "Thank you, my friends."

Mokuba smiled and hugged him.

xxxx

Everyone was drained at the end of that experience, and all too eager to be able to head home to Domino City soon afterwards. Lector, however, was still hesitant to leave Evangeline.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" he asked that evening back at the mansion. "I know this has been hard on you too."

"I'm okay." Evangeline smiled at him. "The board of directors voted me in, Démas! They liked my platform of a fresh, new approach from someone who knows the business but doesn't agree one bit with what Father did!" She hugged him close.

Lector returned the gesture. "I'm so proud of you." He smiled. "You'll bring the family above and beyond its former glory."

"I'd like to go tell Grandmother about it too," Evangeline said. "Mother thinks she won't understand anything I say, but maybe she will."

"Does she know about your dad totally messing everything up?" Joey blurted.

"I couldn't say about that," Evangeline said. "Démas and I both went to tell her about finding the treasure, and we're not sure if she understood that either. But she talked about how pretty all the jewelry is and how much she loves it. We want to give a little of the treasure back to her."

"That's a great idea," Téa said. "She sure deserves it."

"I'm going to see everyone gets something, either jewelry or money from selling it," Evangeline said.

"Can you really bear to part with any of it?" Serenity asked. "I mean, all the pieces must be so old and special."

"That's true," Ishizu said. "It was preserved all these years to be given to the family."

"Well . . . I guess I could give everyone a piece of the actual jewelry to do whatever they want with," Evangeline said. "I thought that might seem kind of a funny gift for some of you."

"I think we should hold on to all of it," Lector said. "The letter said the treasure was for those who appreciated it as well as the letter. I think that would mean not selling any of it unless times are tough."

"That's a good point," Evangeline said. "If none of you mind . . ." She looked around at everyone.

"I'm sure we'd all be honored to have a piece of history like that," Yugi smiled.

"Even if some of us won't actually wear it," Tristan added.

The others echoed their assent.

"Alright then." Evangeline looked happier. "I have to admit, I'm glad it won't get sold, like it would have with Michel." She sighed. "I don't know if he'll ever appreciate it for more than the monetary value."

"Hey, who knows," Joey said. "If these guys can learn the value of love and friendship, then almost anything's possible!" He gestured at Yami Bakura and the Big Five.

Bakura smiled. "That's a good way to look at it."

Yami Bakura grunted. "I make no comment."

Oreo, sitting on his shoulder, purred and rubbed him.

"Cat!" he exclaimed.

Everyone laughed.

"I already knew love and friendship," Lector said. "But when I was poisoned by hate, it was as if I'd forgotten everything I knew."

"That was the case for all of us to varying extents," Gansley said. "All of us, at one time or another, knew what it was to be cared about. But we all got caught up in the darkness of the world . . . in greed . . . and in other things that caused us to drift away from the light."

"The first time I really knew what it was to be cared about was when I met Lector and started trying to get close to him," Crump said. "I didn't have a loving family or close friends growing up."

"That's awful," Serenity said.

"Well, the principle still stands," Gansley said. "We even started to forget our caring for each other the further we fell."

"But we have that back now," Johnson said.

"Why did you start trying to make friends with me, Crump?" Lector wondered. "You must have tried to reach out to people before. What made you think I'd be different? I wasn't particularly sociable with you or anyone else."

"I dunno what it was," Crump said. "It'll sound corny, but I could just feel that you were different, that you'd be a genuine friend if I tried hard enough to reach out. I watched you around KaibaCorp and I could see that you were honest, unlike a lot of the employees. And . . . I really wanted you as my buddy."

"Well . . ." Lector smiled a bit. "I'm glad you kept reaching out to me. I generally didn't make friends; I kept to myself as I climbed the corporate ladder. I didn't ever want it to look like I was using someone to rise in the ranks. I got to the top all on my own."

"I still don't know how you ever thought Gozaburo was a decent person," Seto grunted.

Lector sighed. "Maybe he was always fooling me to some extent. But I do know he was different before you came to know him. Losing Noa warped him into someone else altogether."

"And he stopped caring about Noa too," Téa said in disgust.

"Unfortunately true. And we could have all been like him." Lector looked to the rest of the Big Five. "That's what we were becoming."

"But fortunately, we're not," Gansley said.

"And we're all friends now," Téa smiled.

No one could deny that. It had seemed impossible, but it was one more instance of the impossible coming true. And it had been an amazing thing for all of them.

"Hey, you know, we still don't know what that ghost who walks the halls is looking for," Téa realized.

"And maybe we never will," Lector sighed. "Apparently she was here in the 1860s and possibly earlier. If she won't stay to talk to anyone, there's not much we can do about that."

"Or about any of the other ghosts, apparently," Evangeline said.

"All I can tell you is that she guided me to Lector the night Gozaburo came out," Nesbitt said.

"Huh?!" Everyone stared at him.

"I couldn't find Lector anywhere, and then she showed up and led me downstairs and outside," Nesbitt said. "If I hadn't found Lector in time, Gozaburo might have attacked him while he was all alone and feeling so badly about everything. It might have turned out worse then."

"I'm surprised she would care," Lector said in amazement, "but I am certainly grateful."

"Well, that definitely makes me feel better about her," Evangeline declared.

"So you're just gonna be okay with having a whole wing of the house closed off and ghosts hanging around in most of the parts you're using?!" Joey frowned.

Evangeline and Angelique exchanged a look, and Evangeline sighed. "Well, I wouldn't say we're 'okay' with it. But we don't really know what to do but accept it. I'll admit I'm also feeling a little better again now that I know none of the ghosts in the North wing hurt Yugi and Mr. Nesbitt. Although I'm still a little peeved that we can't use those rooms; they're lovely!"

"You could try more exorcisms," Tristan said.

"I don't think so," Evangeline said, shaking her head. "I don't want to waste the priest's time on something that isn't malevolent."

"I guess it's just a typical New Orleans house," Angelique said with a weak smile.

"Ghosts watching you sleep or go into the bathroom is typical?" Téa shuddered.

Evangeline made a face. "I'm wondering if they'll stop that since they saw I was willing to call an exorcist and that Gozaburo person showed up to be so horrible."

"And what if they don't stop it?" Duke frowned.

"Then . . ." Evangeline thought about it and sighed. "I don't know." She shook her head. "We still don't have anywhere else to go. Or I don't."

"Maybe after you start making more money as the new company president, we can afford to go somewhere else, if we have to," Angelique said.

"Maybe. Only I really hate to leave here. I love it so much and I had so many plans for it. . . ." Evangeline gazed off into the distance.

"Well, maybe they'll all still work out," Téa said.

"I hope so," Evangeline said. She sighed. "I won over the board of directors, but I wonder if I'm really mature enough and ready for this. You've all been so sweet, but I know I really did set a lot of our troubles here in motion. I lied about all the ghosts and I even forgot about the rooftop ghosts until after you were all already here."

"Well, you can't be blamed for forgetting something," Crump shrugged.

"And honestly, Gozaburo would have attacked us even if we'd been at a hotel," Lector pointed out. "This was not your fault, Evangeline. I will admit you should have told everyone about the ghosts beforehand, especially Angelique. But you've learned from your mistake."

"That's true," Evangeline said softly. "If I could do it over, I would tell about everything right at the start."

"And I think I would have tried to be brave and come anyway," Angelique said with a small smile. "I mean, I'll never be able to realize my dream of solving mysteries someday if I can't be brave enough to take on a few ghosts."

"You've had a lot to deal with these last few months, Evangeline," Lector told her. "You grew up idolizing our father and letting him rule over you. Maybe you were even happy in that sheltered existence, to some extent. Then you had to experience such a cruel awakening by discovering how twisted and wicked the man truly is. You decided to rebel against it, but you're still young and you're still learning. Striking out all on your own is always an intimidating thing, especially the way you had to do it. I understand that you didn't want to do it alone."

"Especially moving into a creepy place like this!" Joey exclaimed.

Téa facepalmed. "Joey. . . ."

"No, he's right," Evangeline said. "They're both right. It was intimidating, especially when it's this house . . . and especially when I realized what I was actually in for by moving here with so many ghosts. New Orleans is very accepting of ghosts, but I am not the entire city of New Orleans." She gave a small smile. "And I'm not sure what most residents would think of living with this many ghosts."

"I think it would be too much for most residents," Angelique remarked. "Considering how The Haunted House keeps being vacated."

"Yeah, but those ghosts cause a lot more trouble, right?" Joey shivered.

"Plus, there's the curse," Evangeline added. "I hope that's one thing that isn't here."

"Don't we all," David exclaimed.

Evangeline still looked tired. ". . . Sometimes I think that the amulet's influence has never really left me. I was so filled with anger then . . . and hate. . . . And I still am."

"It's not like it was while you were possessed by the amulet," Lector insisted. "You were willing to badly hurt or kill people in that state. In your normal frame of mind, you don't want to do that even though you still feel angry and hateful."

"I guess that's true," Evangeline said. "I don't want to be like Father, no matter what."

"And you won't be," Lector vowed.

"Oh, speaking of magical objects, Lector, when you were unconscious, your ring activated by itself," Gansley said. "We couldn't have beat Gozaburo without it."

"You don't say." Lector stared down at it.

"You ended up being pretty insistent on trying to see if you could feel comfortable using that ring before switching with me," Nesbitt said. "Do you feel any better about it?"

"I don't know." Lector frowned. "I would like to think I do, but I suppose I can't know until it has to be activated again . . . while I'm aware of it." He started to turn it around his finger. "Why do you suppose it activated by itself?"

"We feel it was likely because of your strong will and desire to help us," Gansley said.

"It's certainly a nice thought," Lector said. "And I suppose it could be true . . . especially after all that we've seen lately."

"I sure believe it," Téa smiled.

Duke looked to Snakes. "So, are you going to be flying back with us when we go?"

"It would be nice if you could visit Domino for a while," Serenity smiled.

"Maybe I will at that," Snakes mused. "I _do_ have more vacation time coming."

"I'm really glad you came out here," Evangeline said. "It's been incredible hearing about our ancestors from someone who knew them first-hand!"

"I'm glad I could be useful," Snakes said.

"It was very comforting," Lector agreed.

"I've thought sometime I might write a book," Snakes said gruffly. "Only thing is, most people probably wouldn't believe it and I'd get branded a nut."

"I'm pretty sure everyone here would believe you," Téa said.

Murmurs of assent went up in the room.

"Well," Snakes said, "maybe I'll consider it. I guess I could make it a private run and not try to sell it to any bookstores."

"I would certainly like to read what you'd have to say," Evangeline said.

"So would I," Duke said, twirling a piece of hair around his finger. "I know you've had an incredible life."

"And death," Snakes muttered. Louder he said, "You'd get the first copy."

"Hey, would we all be in the book?" Joey wondered.

"If you want to be," Snakes said. "I'd be talking about Duke, of course . . . if he'd be okay with that. . . ."

"Yeah," Duke said. "Although I might not read much of that section."

"Completely understandable," Snakes said.

Seto grunted. "Would we finally learn how and why David is alive but we remember him dead?"

"Yes," Snakes said. "You'd probably learn more about it than you ever wanted to know."

Seto made a face. "The story of my life."

Mokuba giggled. But despite Seto's strong aversion to the paranormal, it was hard to deny that it had brought them together with so many people who were now their friends. He wished that the heart-rending experiences hadn't happened, but he wouldn't change the friendships for anything.

And that, he was sure, was something everyone there would agree on.


End file.
